Top Caribbean Destinations for Thanksgiving or Christmas Break

Because of the proximity of the US with the Caribbean we try to take advantage and go during the winter holidays. It's a great excuse to avoid cold weather and have seafood.

Nassau, Bahamas

My top Caribbean Destinations:

St Lucia
We spent part of our honeymoon in the south side of the island in an awesome resort called Anse Chastanet. It's very natural and supposedly it's located in the most beautiful beach of St Lucia. Our room was facing the Pitons mountains. It's a great place if you are in need of rest. The resort offers several activities, namely yoga classes, snorkeling, sunset boat trips and hikes to the Pitons.

Anse Chastanet

St John, US Virgin Islands
This is paradise. We went there during the polar vortex, to leave DC and go to a sunny place. It was a long and snowy winter. This was the perfect break. We landed in St Thomas and we immediately took the ferry to St John. The islands are almost the opposite. St Thomas is very developed and St John is very natural. The National Park covers almost 90% of the island.
We visited gorgeous white and fine sand beaches. And we had delicious food.
It's a great place if you like hikes.
It's hard to find reasonable hotels.
Even though US VI are part of the US, you'll need to show your passport or birth certificate to reenter in the mainland.

St John

Barbados
The other part of our honeymoon was in Barbados. It's very different from St Lucia. It's very touristic and developed.
We stayed in the most undeveloped area and we took the bus to the city daily. That was one of my favorite memories there. We could see how locals live and once while tailing for the bus we spotted monkeys.
In downtown we had delicious cod fish cakes at Legendary fishcakes and we also had a delicious lunch at Mustor's. If you are going to Speighstown stop by Fisherman's Pub.
A couple of days is more than enough.
Beach in St Lucia or in any of the other islands that I visited were better than in Barbados.

Bus Stop in Barbados

Bahamas
Bright blue sea and lobster, what else can you ask?!
We stayed in Sheraton (now Melia) and it was very easy to move around. There was a bus that passed by many of the big hotels from and to downtown. It was very cheap. And reliable.
I highly recommend 2 restaurants in downtown Cafe Matisse and Andros the Fish Fry. And a bakery not far from the Sandals Resort called Swiss Bakery.

Icy Runway, Flight connection in Toronto

Nassau, Bahamas

Belize
We travelled around Belize by bus and it was a nice experience but there is not much to see or do. Lonely Planet lists some places that are a nightmare, namely Hopkins.
San Pedro deserves to be known by Madonna's music title, La isla bonita (the beautiful island). It's beautiful but it's getting too developed. Everything is expensive. You can get better for the same sum of money.

San Pedro, Belize

Puerto Rico
We did a short stopover in San Juan and we decided to visit Old San Juan. Although we couldn't see much we got the vibe. It's a pretty city. Don't miss the fort.

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Tulum, Mexico
It was one of the first places in Caribbean that I've been. The sea's color is impressive. It contrasts with the fine white sand. It's even more unique and spectacular because of the ruins on the top of the beach. Iguanas are everywhere.

Tulum, Mexico

Cartagena, Colombia
Charming, old and beautiful it's how I describe it. The colonial houses and the castle walls make it remarkable.
The Oro museum has amazing pieces of art.
Drink a fruit juice. And enjoy yourself.

Cartagena, Colombia

DC Restaurant Guide: Georgetown

Lonely Planet's travel list for 2015 ranks DC in #1. For American this is not a surprise. DC is already a very popular destination in the US. 

When I first lived in DC I wasn't impressed specially because I was coming from a big city, Chicago. But since then the city is developing a lot and in a fast pace. New construction and new businesses are blooming almost everywhere. NY Times wrote an article about it recently.

It's exciting for me to live in a city that is changing dramatically. 

In the follow weeks I'll share my food knowledge about DC with you guys. I'll organize my tips by city's area (you can also check my tips about free things to do here).

- Simply Banh Mi

If you are up for something simple but delicious and you are on a tight budget, a banh mi is a good option. 

This Vietnamese is a bit far from the Georgetown's main street but it's on your way to the Dumbarton Oaks (no admission fee). 

Everything is fresh and tasty. There are few seats inside but there is a small backyard with more tables.

- Kafe Leopold

This Austrian place is my favorite spot for brunch or pastries in Georgetown. The brunch menu is terrific. During the weekends is always busy. Book in advance.

- Stachowski 

It's a Polish deli that serves enormous sandwiches filled with the finest and freshest ingredients. One sandwich can feed 2 people. No kidding! 

Part V: The cross island Highway (Highways 8 and 14)

A Guide to Road Tripping in Taiwan's East Coast: Intro

Part I: Preliminaries and Advice

Part II: East Coast Highway (Highway 11)

Part III: East Rift Valley (Highway 9)

Part IV: Taroko National Park

Part V: The cross island Highway (Highways 8 and 14)

After crossing the Taroko NP (see Part IV), highway 8 gets steeper and steeper. Landslides are apparently very common and we experienced several delays due to them so allow for a lot of extra time. Basically you get to a point in the road where all cars are stopped. Normally, only one lane is open and you have to wait a bit until the cars in the opposite direction go through. Sometimes no cars might be going through for a while. But you can take pictures while you are stopped, so for us it was fine.

The next attraction is Hehuan Shan, which you can actually hike from the road. It is just before the mountain that Highway 8 turns into Highway 14. When we passed, the weather conditions were terrible so we ended up just taking a photo at Wulai Pass, supposedly the highest road pass in East Asia.

Our next destination was Puli. Before Puli, there is a very touristic stop called Cinjing, where there are some farms where you pretend you are working in the country side. For us this was uninteresting but we saw many tour buses and self driven tourists there. The theme seemed to be swiss alps which was weird, but the climate and landscape can remind one of the Alps. The views are amazing.

In Puli we were curious to check out a big temple whose architect was the guy who designed Taipei 101. This was not interesting at all, maybe the outside is ok but inside it feels very tacky and overly ostentatious which is weird if you think this is a Buddhist sect.

We then drove to Sun Moon lake one of the major tourist attractions of Taiwan, which can sound daunting but if you use simple rules of thumb you can enjoy thoroughly. More on that for another time!

Part IV: Taroko National Park

A Guide to Road Tripping in Taiwan's East Coast: Intro

Part I: Preliminaries and Advice

Part II: East Coast Highway (Highway 11)

Part III: East Rift Valley (Highway 9)

Part IV: Taroko National Park

Part V: The cross island Highway (Highways 8 and 14)

The Taroko National Park is a must see in Taiwan. 

I cannot recommend enough that you come early. We stayed in Hualien in Chateau de Chine Hotel, which was comfortable even though we had a breakfast buffet rush hour experience. 

We drove off Hualien early, around 7:30am and got to the park at around 8am. The park headquarters were closed, so if you come this early don't even bother.

The swallow grotto was our first stop (except the ones that we did just to take pictures). It is a fantastic sight, with water seeping through the cave cracks and a wonderful view of the gorge, with its color palette. We were lucky to be the only people there at that time.

We stopped in many bends on the road, but we took a bit of time to do the Lushui-Heliu trail.

Unfortunately, many key attractions are closed off because of heavy damage due to rock falling and typhoons. This was the case for the Baiyang Trail and the nine turns tunnel both of which we had on our lists of mandatory stops. 

 

Hopefully next time we come these will all be open. 

The park is well worth a stop in your visit to Taiwan.

Part III: East Rift Valley (Highway 9)

A Guide to Road Tripping in Taiwan's East Coast: Intro

Part I: Preliminaries and Advice

Part II: East Coast Highway (Highway 11)

Part III: East Rift Valley (Highway 9)

Part IV: Taroko National Park

Part V: The cross island Highway (Highways 8 and 14)

Formosa

Highway 9 goes inland and runs parallel to Highway 11. There are a few roads that link the two highways that are also worth a detour, because they offer amazing vistas (see below under "Special Scenic Roads").

In my opinion, H9 is at least as interesting as H11. True, you don't see the beautiful azure of the pacific, but the mountains are equally mesmerizing.

Stops along the way (listed North-South)

- Walami Trail: A must! We came here late in the day, and had basically the trail for ourselves. A series of suspension bridges and beautiful falls are the highlights here. You see the raw/lush side of Taiwan. Where Taiwan is the most "Formosa"!

Suspension Bridge

- Antong Hot Springs: Another must! By chance we found this hot springs/onsen called "Moon Water Bay Hill". We had a fantastic stay: a great room, simple with wooden floors, a great comfy bed, a balcony overlooking the Antong Valley and... a private onsen! The food was also top notch, both our dishes were really delicious. We had a bit of trouble with communicating with them, but in the end, they were so hospitable. An absolute must if you want to relax on the hot springs!

View from our room

Dinner at Moon Water Bay Hill

- Sixty Stone Mountain: ok. We came to see the orange blossoms and got nice pics, but it was a long drive so make sure you have time. Also, there are a ton of tourists there, so be prepared...

- Loshan Scenic Area: really not worth the detour. There are several attractions here, a waterfall and a much advertised mud vulcano. None of these are really note worthy. There are nice rice terraces when approaching the scenic area since this area is called the rice warehouse of Taiwan, but still... Keep driving.

Sixty Stone Mountain

Greatest regret:

- Moon House Restaurant: we saw this great review of the restaurant and tried to show up without a reservation. Don't. We had to turn back and were really sad as it was incredibly busy hinting at a fantastic food experience. Try making reservations and let me know how you liked it!

Special Scenic Roads:

- Road 64 (up from Shitiping to Ruisui): amazing views up the mountain. Just the change in vegetation is really interesting, but then you have bends on the road that open up to amazing river valleys and green mountains. It's an absolute must if you need to connect from Highway 11 to Highway 9.

Road 64

Roads To avoid:

- Road 197 (Taitung-Chihshang): The road starts off good, but then quickly turns into a gravel road. Oh boy, that was terrible. We could only go at 10-20 km/h and had no idea how long the gravel road would be. That was a pure waste. So don't do the same mistake we made.

           

Road 197

Road 197