Florida, Caribbean, Central America

Photos

1,426

Hikes

8 tracked

Shape

Miami base · Everglades day · Keys drive

Anchor

Miami Beach (with day trips out)

Pace

fast / varied

Mar 5 · the Everglades day - walking the boardwalk chain along the park road from Coastal Prairie down to Anhinga - and Mar 8 · the Keys drive all the way to Key West, the full chain through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and Lower Matecumbe.

• Mar 1-3 · the long arrival via Paris, settling into Miami Beach and easing into the first Wynwood, South Beach and downtown wanders
• Mar 4 · west across the Tamiami Trail - Pinecrest, the long roadside drive out through the sawgrass, and the Miccosukee Indian Village
• Mar 5 · the Everglades day proper - Homestead in the morning, then the boardwalk chain across the park, one short walk after another
• Mar 6 · Key Biscayne and Robin’s Birding Trail out on the barrier island - a slower rhythm after the Everglades push
• Mar 7 · a second Tamiami day out to Everglades City and the Big Cypress fringe, drifting back toward the Miccosukee village
• Mar 8-9 · the Keys drive to Key West through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and Lower Matecumbe, with a Stock Island touch at the end

Photos

947

Shape

San Juan base + Vieques day + central-mountain loop

Anchor

San Juan (Old San Juan + Río Piedras)

Pace

moderate / varied

Mar 12 · the Vieques island day - the morning ferry out of Ceiba, then the wild south coast at La Hueca and El Pilón - and Mar 14-15 · the central mountains, from Yauco and the Cabo Rojo southwest up into Adjuntas and Jayuya.

• Mar 10-11 · San Juan on foot - the old town, Río Piedras, Carolina and the Loíza coast reaching east toward Fajardo
• Mar 12-13 · Vieques - the morning ferry from Ceiba, the south coast across Sector Tortuguero, La Hueca and El Pilón, then back via Fajardo and the Comunidad La Vega cluster
• Mar 14 · the southwest run down to Yauco and along the Comunidad del Toro / Cabo Rojo coast
• Mar 15 · the central mountain loop through Cruce de Jauca, Altos de Arena, Adjuntas and Jayuya - the quietest, greenest day of the loop
• Mar 16-17 · the return to San Juan and the exit flight toward the Dominican Republic

Photos

135

Shape

single anchor · eastern DR

Anchor

Higüey (near Punta Cana coast)

Pace

slow

The quietest leg of the whole trip - a slow stretch of resort-coast days near Punta Cana with the camera mostly resting in a bag.

• Mar 17-20 · slow resort-coast days around Higüey - the trip’s quietest stretch, a deliberate breather before Colombia

Photos

1,010

Hikes

1 tracked

Shape

Medellín base + Guatapé day-trip

Anchor

Medellín

Pace

fast / urban

Mar 23 · Guatapé - the trip’s photo-densest day, the painted zócalo village and the long climb up the El Peñol monolith, staircase after staircase to the top.

• Mar 21 · a brief transit through Bogotá into Medellín (Bogotá was a connection only - a few landing-approach frames, no city day)
• Mar 22 · a full Medellín day - Comuna 13 in the morning, Botero’s square in the middle, the cable car up to Arví Park in the afternoon
• Mar 23 · ★ the Guatapé day - the painted zócalo village and the long climb up the El Peñol monolith, the trip’s peak (the Rionegro / Marinilla approach drive folded into the same arc)
• Mar 24 · a second Medellín day around the city centre before the flight south to Panama

Photos

484

Hikes

1 tracked

Shape

Panama City + Canal corridor

Anchor

Panama City (multi-district - Ancón, Bella Vista, Santa Ana, San Francisco)

Pace

moderate / urban

Mar 26 · the Ancón and canal day - the long climb up Cerro Ancón through the Metropolitan Natural Park and out to the Miraflores Locks - followed by a slow Bella Vista wander on Mar 27.

• Mar 25 · arrival into Panama City, the first evening spent in the San Francisco district finding food
• Mar 26 · the Ancón / Miraflores day - the long city walk up Cerro Ancón through the Metropolitan Natural Park, then out to the canal locks to watch a ship rise
• Mar 27 · a Bella Vista day across the cultural and restaurant grid - Calle Uruguay, Marbella, the seafront walks in the late afternoon
• Mar 28-29 · the Casco Viejo / Calidonia / San Francisco wind-down, taking Panama City slowly before the Cuba flight

Photos

1,859

Hikes

1 tracked

Shape

Havana → Viñales → Trinidad cross-island

Anchor

Havana · Viñales · Trinidad (rolling)

Pace

fast

Viñales carried the most photos of any place we saw in Cuba - the tobacco valley under its karst mogotes - and Mar 31 was the day we spent on it by bicycle, two rides bookending a long lunch under the cliffs.

• Mar 29-30 · Havana - the old town in the mornings, the Malecón seawall in the evenings, Plaza de la Revolución and the vast Colón cemetery in between
• Mar 31 · ★ Viñales by bicycle - a morning loop of 28.2 km / 220 m through the tobacco farms, a shorter 12.2 km / 102 m ride in the afternoon, and lunch under the mogotes in the pause between them
• Apr 1-2 · the Viñales valley days - tobacco farms and drying sheds, the karst overlooks, then the long eastern-Havana drive back through San Miguel del Padrón
• Apr 3 · ★ Trinidad, and the Sendero Caburní waterfall hike climbing up into the Sierra del Escambray
• Apr 4-5 · colonial Trinidad and its cobbled streets, with a south-coast touch at Playa Larga and Cienfuegos on the cross-island drive

Photos

1,354

Hikes

1 tracked

Shape

La Fortuna → Monteverde → Quepos → Uvita → San José

Anchor

rolling - 5 distinct stops

Pace

fast / varied

La Fortuna and the Arenal volcano anchor the leg - three slow days beneath the cone - with the Manuel Antonio wildlife coast around Quepos and the whale-tail beach at Uvita running a close second.

• Apr 7-9 · ★ La Fortuna and Arenal, the hot springs at the foot of the volcano - the leg’s anchor, with the Sendero Bosque 1968 hike on Apr 9 taking us across the old lava field
• Apr 10-12 · the Monteverde cloud forest at altitude, then the long Pacific-coast drive south via Tilarán and the Jacó coast
• Apr 13-14 · the Manuel Antonio wildlife coast around Quepos and the whale-tail day at Marino Ballena, walking the sandbar at low tide
• Apr 15-16 · a slow Pacific wind-down at Uvita, easing off the pace before the inland turn
• Apr 17 · a civic stop in San José (Alajuela airport zone) before the flight out

Photos

232

Shape

transit · Houston layover

Anchor

Houston (3-day layover)

Pace

exit

The way home runs through a full Houston layover - a real stop, not a tarmac touch - before the Amsterdam transit and the flight back to Bucharest.

• Apr 18 · the multi-country flight day out of Central America - Costa Rica overhead, Mexico, Belize, then into the US
• Apr 19-20 · a full Houston layover, our first proper time in Texas rather than a connection through it
• Apr 21 · the Amsterdam transit, the last frames of the trip before the descent into Bucharest