Mexico city PhotoAlbums

1)The National Museum of Anthropology is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. the museum contains  ignificant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico's pre-Columbian heritage, such as the Stone of the Sun (or the Aztec calendar stone) and the Aztec Xochipilli statue.

2) Teotihuacan_selected 

Mexco city

Teotihuacan /teɪˌoʊtiːwəˈkɑːn/,^[1] (in Spanish: Teotihuacán) (Spanish pronunciation: [teotiwa'kan] (listen), modern Nahuatl pronunciation 


Herman Cortés and La Malinche meet Moctezuma in Tenochtitlán, November 8, 1519.
Centro Histroico
La Cocina Meicana
Museo Nacional de Antropolagia 
My Map Mexico city 

I sent you the restaurant confirmations for Contramar (lunch, best seafood in town) and Pujol (dinner, for the taco omakase) when I made them, so you should be all set.  Make sure you go to both, they are amazing. Also, after lunch at Contramar, walk around the neighborhood, its a very charming part of town.

You must visit the Frida Kahlo museum, which is called Casa Azul.  In order to avoid waiting in a 1-2 hour line, buy your tickets in advance.  They sell out.  You can get your tickets here: https://www.boletosfridakahlo.org/default.asp?searchdate=08/10/2019&MonthSubmit=x. Let me know if the link doesn't work.  I would recommend going on a Saturday.  The reason being is that you can go to the Saturday Market in the adjacent neighborhood called San Angel.  They have a really nice artist market on Saturday morning/afternoon and its a really nice area to walk around in with lots of nice shops and restaurants.  https://www.afar.com/places/el-bazaar-sabado-mexico-city

Since you are staying at the Hyatt Regency in Polanco, here are some other recs in the neighborhood:

Food:
Omakase Tacos by Pujol
Tennyson #133
Polanco IV Sección, Miguel Hidalgo
11550 Ciudad de México
https://pujol.com.mx/en/
 

- Tacos:  Go to El Turix in Polanco. Best place for cochinita pibil - shredded pork tacos.  The other really famous tacqueria is called El Califa.  They have multiple locations all over the city, make sure to go. Both will be super cheap, quick, and casual.

- Mexican Food:  Heard very good things about Dulce Patria.  Mid range beautiful mexican restaurant, should be close to your hotel.

- Mexican/Indian fusion restaurant called Masla y Maiz - has good reviews, on my list, but didn't go:  https://www.masalaymaiz.com/.  .; 01 55 2614 1408 La Condessa 

- If you are in town for Sunday Brunch, a must go to is the mexican brunch at the Four Seasons. They also have a really nice cocktail bar.

Museums/Things to do:

- Museo Soumaya - really pretty from the outside to take pictures, a frank gehry building.  its modern art, we didn't go inside.

- make sure to walk around and explore the Bosque de Chapultepec - its the central park of Mexico City and really pretty.  Also, if there is one museum to go in Mexico City check out the Natural History museum, its in the park.  Its top of my list when I go back but hear great things.

- And of course you are going to the Pyramids one day. There are also a number of historical sights in Downtown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/arts/design/frida-kahlo-review-brooklyn-museum.html 

https://gothamist.com/2019/02/06/frida_kahlo_exhibit_brooklyn.php 

Galapagos Adventure

Galapagos Islands  Summary 


Visiting   Galapagos Islands is indeed  one of the most unique travel  experience.  Visiting  Dubrovnik ,   got a  feeling  of  visiting a place frozen in time  five  hundred  years,   visiting  Pompei ruins   gave  a feeling of visiting a place two thousand  years back in time.  However  visiting  Galapagos Islands is  an experience of  visiting the place two millions  of year back.  It is  time  capsule of period when  even homo sapiens had  not  walked  on the planet. This  place and trip is  very    different from others. It is  a place  frozen in time,  like no other  place on planet.  This is where Charles  Darwin  did his  research for the  evolution  and  found smoking  gun  in terms of finches for  his evolution  theory.  

Per Moon’s travel book: “ The  Galapagos  islands  are unquestionably the best place in the  world for wildlife  watching both  on the land  and in the  water.  If you imagine Eden to be place where creatures live  and play together in perfect    harmony then  Galapagos is as  close as you can get”

It is not often that you come across a place that is unique in the world.  All too many “must-sees”, no matter how glowingly described by the guidebooks and friends, seem to pale in harsh light of reality.  But the Galapagos Islands exist truly without Parallel. Huddled far out in Pacific Ocean, the archipelago protects a bubble of life like nowhere   else on earth.

Many travel destinations use their wildlife as   tourist promotions which is hardly seen by an average tourist. Flamingo is mascot of the state of the Florida, USA.  However the state does not have even one Flamingo bird outside captivity.  Costa Rica promotes Toucan, which we hardly see.  However in case of Galapagos, the reality far exceeds the poster “Nature’s Paradise” at the Baltra Airport,  Galapagos 

Initial impressions of the islands certainly don’t promise much. But within a day or two of beginning your tour, you will see things you would never have believed existed. Tortoise in size of armchair, iguanas that swim, birds with blue feet that all are completely nonplussed by your presence. This gives one taste of what the Earth was like well before the human race showed up and started throwing its weight around.

The Galapagos Islands are the flagship of scientific discovery and applied conservatism. The group consists of 18 main islands, 3 smaller islands, and 107 islets or rocks. So  to  see them properly,  travel in  a small  boat  and  zodiac is  required.  Many islands require the wet landing to see. The islands sit above the Galapagos hotspot where the Earth's crust is being melted from below by a mantle plume, which creates volcanoes. The oldest of the islands, more than 4 million years old, are slowly disappearing back below sea level. The youngest islands Isabela and Fernandina are still in the process of being formed with 13 volcanic eruptions in the archipelago over the last 100 years.

The landscapes  of the Galapagos  are  diverse and  otherworldly as  the  wildlife  that inhabit them.; Lush highland  forests, pristine  white  sand beaches,  steaming volcanic peaks, blacked  lava trails,  red  rocked land,  heavy pebbled land,  arid  and dessert like land,…  No human has lived here  or living here except for three  islands.

We  were lucky to  see  a wide set of wild  life including the Giant tortoise,   iguanas,  Sea lions,  especially the    Red  Frigate, Nazca Bobby, Blue-footed boobies   in  mating  season, 

Galapagos is  relatively less  travelled  destination among my well-travelled  friends and family members ( Visited  by only two  friends in boat and one in land,  unlike    zero  at 

• Semuc Champey ; Hidden paradise of Guatamela)
• 
  

Galapagos is  one of the very few trips that we  have taken  using a   tour operators,  which is   almost mandatory for the  destination.  You may follow the itinerary with Day 2 as  March 5th  2016. 

http://www.wildernesstravel.com/trip/ecuador/galapagos-islands-active-cruise


We walk  up daily  walk up at   6:00AM.  Put the life jacket, take  the zodiac boat to one of the island,
I took  my  heavy  canon 2.8 70mm-200mm lens with  2X  extender.  However with  brutal  sun ,  difficult terrain to walk, I skipped  tripod often and compromised  the photography and the videography.   So this is not a  National Geography or  David Attenborough  videography,  It may add  to the  perspective of  the  wild life at Galapagos.  You  may see how  it is  the "bubble of life"

Video of  Galapagos :  ( 10 Min.)


https://youtu.be/Xty05Klap78
( Background :  Film Hatari  Baby Elephant walk,  Bollywood,  Narration by  Naturalist ..)

I will be  adding the  picture  link of the  photo-albums for each  day later.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."  ~  Charles  Darwin  


Equador and Galapaos Slideshow

Tushar's talk about Guatemala, Panama

Online  resources for the  Photo  show  about the  trip  to Guatemala and Panama.

This travel photo talk covers some areas which is  relatively less travelled. There are some places  that I have  not  known  yet anyone at personal level  who has  visited.  Also has  a  wide coverage of  topics form the Anthropolgy,  Archelogy, Beaches Birds, Culture,  Cusines, Dream-destinations, Engineering wonders and  much more.....

I)  My "Central   America" blog :  Tusharinamericas.blogspot.com ; my notes and refections  dyring the trip 

II) My  photo albums  :  Picasaweb.google.com/TusharInAmericas 

Summary of  fourty+ albums  and 4000+  photo f  Guatemala and  Panama trip in two albums. 

2a)  Grandeur of  Guatemala  

2b)  Panaroma of Panama 

III) My  trip planning  "scratch pad " ( links, hotesl.. ) 

IV) My online Videos  ( You tube channel : To be Published ) 

V) Online Powepoint slideshow for the trips 

1)  Trip to  Guatemala 

Guatemala trip by Tushar from tjshah

2)  Trip to  Panama 



Personal memories (Madhu BD)

Chagres national Park

Chagres National Park has tropical rainforests and mountainous terrain. 

The Chagres National Park is home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals. Over 900 species of plant species have been identified. There are 114 mammal species, including Baird’s tapirs, whitetail deer, Geoffroy’s spider monkeys, and all five species of big cat

An indigenous Embera tribe lives along the upper reaches of Lake Alajuela.  We visted one  village  to   get a sense of what indigenous life in Panama is like.  That was  a great experience, 

1) Embera-Wounan  Indigenous people 


2) Chagres National Park  wild life

3)  Gamboa  Resort   at Soberania  National Park

4)  Panama Folk dance , street Parade  

Boquete the place Eternal Spring ; Best place to retire per AARP

In the land of “Eternal Spring” where flowers grow on the edge of the road, the traveler is rewarded with surreal images of striking beauty.

Chiriquí is the furthest most western province of Panama bordering Costa Rica. One feels that magic happens here as rainbows arch over the region. Horses freely roam the fincas or farmlands below the majestic mountains. Sublime landscape surrounds you as you climb higher up to the mountain town of Boquete. Sunlight reflects on the streams, rivers and waterfalls running through the canyons.
The Chiriquí highlands is adorned with rainforests, volcanic peaks, coffee plantations, orchid farms and flower-filled towns which truly seem to be enchanted.

Lush green mountainsides flank the vibrant town of Boquete, which is host to the largest expat community in Panama. AARP magazine,  "Matured People" magazine  named Boquete the fourth best place to retire in the world or the number one destination in Latin America. The assessment was based upon their criteria for the cost of living, natural beauty, access to health care, and ideal climate.

Sendero Los Quetzales (The Quetzales Trail) is considered one of the most gorgeous paths in Central America, the Quetzals Trail is without any doubt the most popular hike in Panama's western highlands.  We hiked with a private  tour  guide from  6:00AM to  2:00 PM. Here  are some of the pictures of it.   The pictures,  birds, Native people ( Ngabe Bugle, very  different from Kuna) , our Finca and ourselves  are in separate albums.

1) Selected photos of  the Sendero Los Quetzales 


2) Finca Lerida  is our hotel/Resort/Coffee Farm : Famous for its legendary bird-watching, Finca Lérida is a working coffee farm that happens to be an avian hot spot that’s one of the best places in the country to see quetzals. You can also tour the coffee farm.
Photo album of  Finca Lerida Coffee Farm 

3) Boquete town :  Boquete is one of the country’s top destinations for outdoor lovers. It's a hub to hike, climb, raft, visit coffee farms, soak in hot springs, study Spanish or go on a canopy tour. And, of course, there’s nothing quite like starting your day with a glass of freshly squeezed OJ, or perking up with a cup of locally grown coffee

 

4) Ngobe Bugale indigeneous people  :  They are  the largest indigenous  group in Panama ( population 200,000).  The Ngobe People (also spelled Ngäbe or Ngöbe) can be found primarily in the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, as well as in the indigenous town of Conte, Costa Rica near the southern tip of the country.

5) .. and oursleves at this beautiful location 

san blas archipelago panama

San Blas  Selected  Album

Panama has many  beach destinations on  both oceans. When it comes to two  of Panama’s AMAZING archipelagos, the San Blas Islands in the Caribbean and the Pearl Islands in the Pacific. We  considered  several  destinations.   1) Bocas Del Toro 2) Contadora ( this is where the Shah of Iran was exiled after the Iranian Revolution) 3) Isla Taboga ( Where Paul Gaugin spent time),  Islands near  Azureo Peninsula  and chiriqui.

 After  researching  several choices, in search more different experience   we picked  San Blas. The main motivation was   seeing indigeous people Kuna  and   remoteness.
The San Blas islands are a group of islands in the archipelago de San Blas, located in the Northwest of Panama facing the Caribbean Sea. There are 378 islands within the archipelago and they are scattered around in an area of about 100 square miles.  . The majority of the 378 islands have no inhabitants (Only 49 islands are  occupieded ), but on the larger ones you will find the gentle native people known as the Kuna’s. . Kuna  People   are  fiercely  independent. So they  mantain  full  autonomy.   They own  and control the  region.  Outsiders or other Panama citizen are  not alloed to  own a place.   We picked Yandup Island  . We flew from Panama city to a very small airstrip at   Playon Chico.
The San Blas Islands are the number #1 vacation destination in Panama and probably in Central America. This is because the Islands are not yet discovered by the massive tourism industry and fully in control of the native Kuna’s. The Kuna’s protect their lands against massive tourism and keep them healthy and beautiful. This makes the San Blas Islands of Panama unique if you are searching for untouched nature and culture. You will sleep in eco-friendly accommodations made by the Kuna’s Indians from natural materials which they found on the Islands and in the jungle.  We  flew from Panama City to the  Playon Chico. This  was a small  six-passenger plane .  Flying through this small tiny plane was  unique  experience   Has  taken  couple of hundreds of  picture from Air  showing the  variety in the landscape of Panama.
The native people living on the Islands of San Blas call themselves Kuna’s  .  The Kuna’s are community of proud people that have their own laws, norms and values that go with their culture, which is by the way totally different than the traditional Panamanian culture. Since the last headcount of all the Kuna Indians an estimated 300.000 live in Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia, only 50.000 live on the San Blas Islands.

Yandup lodge  is  an echo lodge,Yandup is a different experience.  The cost is  close to  five star  resort. However it is  fairly  rustic,  If you are expecting for luxury and comfort, you may want to re-think your concept of luxury and comfort. This is a magnificent place to experience nature and enjoy isolated virgin islands.  The Local Kuna  guide  Vitto and  Bianca were very nice, 
 Each  unit  is a hut above sea  water with has  360 degree  Nice to see   fish swimming from  room,  periodic sounds of big splash of Pelicans  diving to get the  catch, Sunrise , sunset from the room. The place  gives unique sense of privacy , especially  having no other guest.

Here  are some of our photos