Buenas tardes a todos,

In my last newsletter sent from Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, I told you about my future crossing of Colombia and the famous "Darien gap", the jungle that separates South America from Central America. This delicate passage was finally traversed without any real trouble. Explanation below.

Crossing of Colombia by hitch-hiking

News currently presented by the media tends to evolve more than ever towards a vulgarization of tragedy and violence, as if our world couldn’t live but at the rate of disasters and attempts on people’s lives. Of course, we shall always speak only about the plane that crashes but never about the thousands landing every day safely, about the cow that becomes a little mad but never about the healthy millions peacefully watching the trains cross...Today, let me tell the story of a young French man who crossed all Colombia, a country widely seen as the most dangerous in the world, by hitch-hiking, without any real trouble.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Colombia is still not the safest country in the world and the figures given in my last newsletter still remain perfectly valid. Being careful is and will always be the rule. However, if basic safety rules are respected (avoiding hitch-hiking at night and "red zones" controlled by the guerrilla, using the gas-station technique...), hitch-hiking remains a perfectly feasible activity. Indeed, just like in any of the countries I have crossed so far, the bad people are a minority. The great majority of the people are very nice, even in Colombia.

Below you’ll find 2 pictures taken during my crossing of Colombia. The first one during a military control along the road (very usual), the second one shows a policeman explaining to me that the guerrilleros are up in the mountains, where Colombian people and tourists know they’d better not put their feet.

For further details about my hitch-hiking experience across Colombia (in French), click below : http://www.sekoyamag.com/nouveausite/SPIP/breve.php3 ?id_breve=131

Boat hitch-hiking to reach Panama

As I explained to you in my last newsletter, reaching Panama by the road would now be a suicide because of the guerrilla presence in the jungle separating North America from South America. Finding a boat in the city of Cartagena on the Carribean coast of Colombia was then my favored solution to reach Panama.

Those who followed my adventure from its start (January 2003) know that the most difficult moments of my tour of the world by hitch-hiking were not getting a ride with a car but finding boats willing to take me on board (2 months passed before I was able to cross the Atlantic ocean, 1 month before reaching Antarctica). This time, I was luckier, it took me only a few hours to find a Norwegian sailing boat that accepted to take me as a crewman on its trip to Panama.

Below 2 pictures. The first one doing boat-hitch-hiking, the second one of the "Solid", Norwegian sailing boat.

Highlights of the last month

Cartagena, a real life museum : Cartagena is a legendary city, full of history and beauty. It is considered by many the most beautiful city in South America. Personally I do not share this enthusiastic point of view (Rio de Janeiro continues to be my favorite), but I can’t deny that this city, located near the Caribbean coast, is incredibly enchanting. Below, two photos of Cartagena. The first one is the fortress built in the 16th century to protect the city from the pirates. The second is a photo of its historic center with its wonderful colonial architecture very well preserved.

For further details about Cartagena (in English), click on the following link : http://www.sekoyamag.com/nouveausite/SPIP/breve.php3 ?id_breve=144

San Blas, land of the Kunas : Before reaching Central America, I’ve had the opportunity with the sailing-boat to go to San Blas archipelago (365 little islands which belong to Panama) populated by the independent native-American community called Kunas. Below, you’ll find a map to situate San Blas and 2 pictures of Kunas native Americans.

For further details about Kunas native Americans (in English), click on the following link : http://www.sekoyamag.com/nouveausite/SPIP/breve.php3 ?id_breve=157

Crossing of the Panama canal : Often considered as one of the greatest engineering wonders of the 20th century, the Panama canal, which was under American control until December 31st 1999, is really impressive and crossing it was a fabulous experience.

Below, a photo of a container ship in one of the 6 locks of the Panama canal

For further details about the crossing of the Panama canal (in English), click on the following link : http://www.sekoyamag.com/nouveausite/SPIP/breve.php3 ?id_breve=163

Next legs

I have left South America and am now in the first of 7 countries that I will visit in Central America. These are : Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. During the next 4 months, I will dedicate myself to discovering these 7 countries (in Guatemala I will spend 6 weeks as a volunteer to lend a hand) and will share my experiences with you of course. Without a doubt, Central America receives fewer visitors than South America, although its tourism industry is currently developing. Indeed, political instability and the numerous wars in the period between the 1960s and the 1980s have created chaos in a large part of the region, driving away many potential visitors and preventing better development of the tourist infrastructure. These Central American countries are not as well-known but are by no means less interesting. From a visit to the Mayan and Aztec ruins to beautiful beaches of the Caribbean, making contact with the many indigenous populations and the astonishing and fabulous landscapes (especially the volcanoes) ; I foresee that my trip through Central America will be anything but boring.

Web site

A quick note before leaving you at your activities to let you know that from now my web site (www.ludovichubler.com) is now completely trilingual (French, English and Spanish), you’ll therefore be able to follow the tour of the world by hitch-hiking on a very regular basis thanks to the "follow me" section. Moreover, 4 new sections have now been added to the web site (The unusual - directions - encounters - drawing of the month). Such an extension of the web site is possible thanks to the help of new people working around the project. Thanks to Claudio Tirado (Lima, Peru, Spanish translations of the articles), Sara Baum (English translations of the articles), Jérôme Botiba (London, GB, webmaster) and Jean-Christophe Balandras (Villefranche sur Saône, France, cartoonist) for your active and efficient collaboration.

For further details about the new sections of the web site (in English), click on the following link :http://www.sekoyamag.com/nouveausite/SPIP/breve.php3 ?id_breve=164 Bye for now

Hasta luego

Ludo