• Natalie Steinbichler
  • Lukas Viana
  • Natalie Steinbichler
  • Lukas Viana

Bananarep, Guati, USA, Europe

Nat and Luke in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, some American States and some of Europe. Read more
  • Trip start
    May 20, 2024

    Getting Ready!

    May 19, 2024 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Aufräumen, packen, geistige Vorbereitung... weniger als 24h bis zu unserem Flug nach Santo Domingo.

    🇩🇴

  • Santo Domingo

    May 20, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We arrived in Santo Domingo, 32 degrees after a short stop in Madrid. Our air bnb is right next to a cemetery and our dinner took so long to be served that it came cold. At least the weather was warm, eh? 😉Read more

  • Santo Domingo Day 2

    May 21, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Hot, hotter, Santo Domingo. Heard the word "Gringo" around 28 times but saw some nice things. Today we leave for Puerto Plata. If I can't go swimming soon, I'm leaving! 😛

  • Puerto Plata

    May 21–24, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    After a hot Monday / Tuesday in Santo Domingo, we drove out to Puerto Plata (where Luke's dad lives) and brought along Swiss weather. A rainy Wednesday later, we used Thursday's sun to go to the beach. And it was totally worth it! Luke got stung by mosquitos and I cried eating super hot hot wings. Fun day! 🌊🐚🏖️🍗🦟🌧️🌦️Read more

  • Sosua

    May 24–27, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Got picked up by Luke's aunt and drove out to a place further down south called "Sosua", where Jews were shipped in by a previous dictator who wanted mixed races. Now, a diary production and a few schools later, Sosua is a becoming a more touristic area. The mosquito war continues however. 🦟🏖️🐚🌊

    Ps. more pictures are following.
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  • Las Terrenas

    May 27–29, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We rode the "bus" (a large van packed with too many people) 4.5h through the pampas. Now, we're in an overprized bungalow in a cute place, not far from the most beautiful beach + sunset I have ever seen.Read more

  • Samana

    May 29–30, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We left Las Terrenas with a cab instead of a bus as originally planned (it cost 48 dollars instead of 9) mostly cause of the friendly cab driver and his arguments about the car being more comfortable yada yada yada. Given, it was a little over an hour to Samana, so we said yes.
    After eating a 3 course menu at around 2:30pm, we left to see a church despite the rain. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.🌧️😁❤️
    Luke's words as I made a picture of us and the church: "Come on let's go, it's not gonna' get any better than this."
    I think he enjoyed it too? 🤣
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  • Sabana de la Mar

    May 30, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Instead of taking another bus or Taxi, we decided to change things up by travelling via boat. So, at 11am we took the boat from Samana to Sabana del Mar. We were asked by a Dominican tourist-shark: "Wanna go to el limon? We have tours to this and this place for more than it's worth et ceeeteeraaa et cetera." Our (or my) typical reply: "No, thank you." as Luke went "We're going to Sabana del Mar." The dude's hilarious reply; "What? To Sabana del Mal? There's nothing there to look at."
    We knew, tho, and we were just passing through. The boat ride did show us, however, HOW ABSOLUTELY SADLY THE DOMINICANS TREAT NATURE. The little island was FULL with plastic waste!!!! (Which agitates me.)😡🏝️🚮
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  • Otra Banda

    May 30, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Absolutely nothing here but suuuper loud people honking our ears off. We had a short overlay here, glad to continue. There was a nice guy though that said I had nice eyes, so there's that.👀📢💥

    Ps. Interesting was that people typically lived right at the main road; there were rarely any roads leading into neighborhoods. (See attached Video). My reasoning for this phenomena; No money for proper houses equals no money for cars, henceforth the necessity of public transport. So = houses at street, where the bus picks everyone up and no one needs to walk much.🏃🥵🏃🏼‍♀️
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  • Punta Cana

    May 30–Jun 3, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Fina'freakin'lly we arrived in our last stop of the Dominican Republic, tourist hot spot Punta Cana, where we were dropped of in some road with no clue where our hotel was and no internet. So, naturally, we asked around, walked around, and finally found a place with a completely different name that had our booking number etc. The catch: we had to pay the hotel in cash.😩 So, swetty, exhausted and starved Luke with Nat, had to search for an ATM. First one was closed, the second one needed the duo to separate. I reluctantly stayed behind as Luke drove off with some random dude to an ATM machine. On a motorcycle.

    (I waited, imagining what in the world I'd do if he never came back, nearly cried. I was also very tired, very stinky and super hungry.)

    The rest is history. 😁🏝️
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  • Punta Cana Last Day Domrep

    June 2, 2024 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We have arrived at the last night in Punta Cana... and the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately I spent the majority of the day in bed with a lovely migraine. We did manage a dip into the ocean before we were pushed back ashore by rain.

    To sum up the Domrep:

    It's a country with a lot of facettes but even more plastic. Jungle, towns, brown rivers, beaches, more little islands. Travelling through it by car/bus/boat was enlightening on one hand and exhausting on the other. We saw a lot of both poor and rich, and there's a big gap between the two. We saw the island as much as "residents" as well as typical tourists.

    Not to mention that the mosquitos were absolute terrible travelling companions. I hope they'll stay here. Not sure if the 40 degrees in Guatemala will be less nerve-wracking however....

    The adventure continues!
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  • Antigua

    Jun 3–5, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Da-da-da-daaaaammm.. We are officially in Guatemala! Yay!
    Our flight left an hour late after I stressed Luke out by being slightly stressed out myself that the monitor said "Panama" instead of "Guatemala" city and boarding had started. I already imagined getting out in the wrong country. In hindsight that would probably have been quite funny.
    Well, we didn't, and we picked up our comfortable travelling companion I am super happy to introduce (especially after not having the independency of a car for 2 weeks).

    Our hotel is super ultra mega cute. More impressions to follow tomorrow, once we've seen Antigua by daylight.☀️🌋🇬🇹
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  • Antigua Day 2

    June 4, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Antigua has me excited for more. It's a city rich in history and we did a ton of walking today. We saw two monasteries, the famous Guatemalan "Arco de Santa Catalina" and a pile of ruins.🏚️

    People are very friendly, smile and I'm probably gonna start raiding all the gift-shops since they have so much beautiful stuff. All in all Guatemala has been great so far! Way less plastic! 😁🇬🇹
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  • Chichicastenango

    Jun 5–6, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Everything was fine until our offline navi told us to go offroad... and we went offroad.
    It probably took us around an hour longer but at least it was fun and bumpy! Bet we saw more sides from Guatemala than the average tourist does. Since, well, I wouldn't necessarily go offroad with a front-wheel drive. Still, we're on an adventure, right? Ende gut, alles gut! (@mother: it was by daylight so quit worrying will ya!)

    We're visiting the town of Chimichonga (the title is correct, I'm just too lazy to spell it out correctly again) to go to the biggest market in Central America. Pray we don't spend too much money.🙌🏻💸💰(Or that it gets stolen from us, haha.) Best case scenario: we leave with loads of money and even more stuff to bring home!
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  • San Pedro La Laguna

    Jun 6–8, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Oh my GOD what a day. We went to the busy market, as announced in our previous footstep. We bought a handful of things and thankfully nothing and no one was stolen.😁

    As to our onward trip to San Pedro, which is a little town at Lake Atitlan.... Erm. I don't even know where to start. Well I think we realized by now we are driving through mountains and the streets are shit everywhere. But. Of course... once I start driving.. the street isn't just crap, it's also not very wide. Ehhheh. Yeah. I drove off it, to be blunt, lol. I mean I did say when we went to the car rental that a pickup truck would be cool! (And much more suited to the terrain!!!!)
    Thankfully a little Guatemalan man came to our aid and we were able to get the car back onto the street by pumping up the car and placing rocks beneath the tire.
    I'm so sick of these roads I'll drive an hour longer just to be on A NORMAL STREET. Ugh.🤣🌋🛣️🛞👨🏻‍🔧

    PS: continue reading for today's Swiss German special: LUKE'S COMMENTS (that I am not looking forward to reading about since they'll no doubt be to my expense.)

    Salüüü zemmee da bini au mal draa en Text z erfasse und de Tag mal us "Minere Sicht" mal z erfasse 😏🤓 Fanget mir doch mal grad a:

    Nachem Zmorge isches bereits zude eigentliche Hauptattraktion vom Tag gange:
    -De "riese" Märt wo minere meinig nah ned riesig gsi isch. (mir sind in guatemala und da sind all chliwüchsig drum isches au vielliecht en Frag vo perspektive).
    Najaa uf jede Fall simmer det durre.
    Mit Kommandos vode Nat wie ich de Rucksack z träge hann und dasi mis Handy nedmal erst deff mitneh hanni selbstverständlich druff glosst und das gmacht wo sie seit.
    Kauft hemmer doch einiges und hend eusi verhandligspünkt eigentlich zimliech guet durrebracht.
    De Markt per se isch zimliech bunt und voll mit chline assesoirs bis zu täsche, tüecher hüet, schueh usw.

    Nach eppe 2 Std simmer de is Auto und wieter zu eusem nechste halt: San Pedro Atitlan.

    D Fahrt: Wieso ich de Märt als "eigentliche" Hauptattraktion beschriebe hann chunt jetzt denn hüt hanni mal d nat s stür überlah. Eb da e gueti idee gsi isch lahni eu zum entscheide nach dem letschte abschnitt 😁

    Also loss gehts.
    Usem parking und bis eigentlich zum hälfti vom Weg chammer nix sege. Wie mer sie kennt fahrt sie eifach super. mitere fahrt vo 2 std cha ja eig au nix gross passiere chammer ja meine.
    Naja eigentlich hemmer denkt vorgester isch s erste und letschtmal gsii das mir offroad gfahre sind.
    hett sich aber usegstellt dases ned ganz gstumme het. (simmer hüt au 😒)
    Trotzdem muetig und positiv wie mir halt sind hemmer halt de gnoh wies chunt und fahret druff los. wie letschtmal isch eigentlich alles ruhig und eim dorf ufem berg nachem andere. ruhig, friedlich und sogar gfahrloss hetts usgseh. Nat und ich hend schomol drüber gredet eb mir eifach komplett nach navi fahret und det durregönd wos seit oder mir trotzdem selber no luegt und no nach buchgfühl fahret. D nat eher nach navi ich nach buchgfühl und da hett mir de gmerkt:

    irgendwo gfühlt anere spitze vom berg seit eus s navi mir sellet en fuessweg abefahre wo d nat natürli ohni 2x überlegge direkt gnoh hett. naja glernt hett sie drus denn es isch glaub ned so usecho wie sie das hett welle...
    Nach ca. 20 meter rutscht de rechti reife vom boardrand ab und denn es klingt nur no nach metall wo grad abgschliefe wird... also NED GUET! (vorbemerkt das auto hemmer gmietet und sett ganz zrugg 😅)

    Ca e stund isch denn die rettigsaktion vomene liebe guatemaler und mir gange bis mir d nat und euse verna (s'auto) us dere missliche lag hend chönne befreie.
    En erinnerig isch am auto blobe wo mir inmere woche am sunntig hoffe werdet das sie dass bide rückgab ned werdet gseh. s wichtigste selbst verständlich:
    !EUS isch nix passiert!
    De rest vode fahrt ha ich de übernoh da sie no de schock het müsse verdaue.

    Und da simmer im Hotel und chönd jetzt über die lustig Ereigniss lache. (sogar inzwische d nat)

    pps: (this has never happened to me before!!!!!)
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  • Lanquin

    Jun 8–9, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    I'm half dead writing this since Luke wanted to drive 8.5h straight and I had another lovely headache the entire ride. Finally, FINALLY, we have arrived having driven half-decent roads since we changed our navi app, so yay to that. More pictures will follow tomorrow, since we're going to visit one of Guatemala's most popular sights: Semuc Champey. See ya tomorrow! 🏞️🫠Read more

  • Sempuc Champey

    Jun 9–10, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Today we decided to leave the dirt-road driving to the professionals with 4-wheel cars. So, like the locals, we took a pick-up truck (we stood on the loading area) and I had to make sure my lenses wouldn't blow out of my eyeballs. I was thankful Luke complied to my idea of organising the transport, rather than winging it with our car and walking whatever rest dirt-road he didn't wanna drive. The walk up to the viewpoint of Sempuc Champey was already my premature death. We walked up 341m steep uphill stairs that I will never EVER walk up again if I have a say in it.
    The view was nice tho, but I enjoyed the cool dip in the pools (and a butt-slide from one pool into the other) waaaay more. (Thanks meu amor for initiating to do the jumps and slides😘)

    Also, fun fact, I think I sweat more today hiking up to the viewpoint than I have in a sauna. We chose the most horrible time of the day (12-1pm) to do it. Safe to say I am DEAD. Good night.🙂🏞️🌊💦🫠🥾
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  • San Benito, Flores

    Jun 10–12, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Another long drive but with a twist: we had to take a "ferry" to cross a river they might as well have just built a bridge to pass. But, alas, as most strange things are, it was an adventure and certainly something we won't easily forget. Now the other 7 hours were as eventful as usual: lots of rocks on the sides of the street (since it stormed so heavily last night, power was out for almost its entirety), tucktucks to outmaneouvre and about 78 million speedbumps that gave me an aneurysm every 5 meters. We arrived safely! 🚗🛣️⛴️💦Read more

  • Tikal

    Jun 11–12, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    WHEEEEE! Finally, we have arrived *insert drum-roll* in TIKAL, where I had the pleasure of realizing a longterm dream of mine of seeing Mayan temples. And boy was it magnificent! It used to be one of the largest kingdoms in Mesoamerica and date back around 5 thousand years. And little old me walked up one of these temples (I later noticed on the other side I shouldn't have... oops. They wrote it on the wrong side höhö.) (While Luke was busy filming the monkeys swinging from one tree to the next.)
    And boy was it HOT. Phew! 33 degrees and we trekked through the jungle.
    But it was worth it. It was truly amazing.
    Now our descent back to Guatemala City commences as we travel down south with detouring slighty east.🧭🛕🐆🐒🌴🍃🌺
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  • Puerto Barrios

    Jun 12–16, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Today has been rather uneventful, especially the 5 hour ride to Puerto Barrios, since Luke slept for almost the entirety of it. Thankfully I saw as good as all potholes and did not drive the car off the street in any way. No dirtroads, yay!
    We arrived at our last stop in Guatemala, where we are staying for 4 nights. Beach days and relaxing is on our itinerary until Sunday, when we head back to Guatemala City to give our car back to the rental company and hope they're blind (or at least selectively blind) to the tiny physical memory our car has of my driving it off the road.😅🐚☀️🌊👙🏖️🩳⛱️
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  • Guatemala City Last Day

    June 16, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Yes! We are still alive!
    After 3 days of recuperating from our Guatemalan roadtrip adventure, we used today to drive out to Guatemala City for our flight tomorrow. So I have good news and bad news: the good news is, the two dudes that looked at our rental car didn't notice the small dent. The bad news... they didn't sign off on it because the office-clerks weren't around. As far as we could tell, they were the guys responsible for cleaning and bringing the car to their headquarters. Basically they could crash the car and say we did it, and we couldn't prove otherwise.😂
    My plan for that: I'll just tell them to prove we did, which they can't, because we didn't so... I'm mostly just praying nobody acuses anyone of anything🫠🙌🏻

    To sum up Guatemala:
    As a country Guatemala has some very nice things to see. From volcanoes to lakes to ancient Mayan temples.🛕It's also a very humbling place since it shows you that sometimes electricity is a luxury and salad is to be consumed with caution. Also, it's a must to learn some basic Spanish otherwise you'll end up sleeping in the jungle or something equally exciting since nobody will understand what you want.☀️🇬🇹 Next stop: USA!!
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  • Albuquerque, New Mexico

    Jun 18–19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Howdy and welcome to the next era of this trip: The United States edition. And boy are Luke and I happy to leave the Spanish speaking to those that actually speak it! Also, the air is crisp, Americans are welcoming and I am thankful to be somewhat 'home'. After a month in Central America... the change is welcome.
    Also, plot-twist for those who either didn't know or forgot: starting today, it's the three of us! Luke, Steve and I. We were equally happy to see each other after we met in Albuquerque especially because we all made it almost at the same time. Steve's luck prevailed and he only had one flight delayed and barely made a connecting flight: but he made it. Yay!
    Let the adventures begin! ☀️🚗🌵🏜️🏙️
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  • Albuquerque, New Mexico Day 2

    June 18, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Petroglyphs are pictures carved into stone, and in Boca Negra Canyon they've been around for 400-500 years. This is what fascinates me about the US: it is vast and rich in history. And it's history that moves your soul when you really take the time to research what the Native People have been through as much as what they stand for. And then, seeing the majestic rockformations, canyons carved out by rivers that have cut through vallies hundreds of years ago... I don't think I could ever get enough of this beautiful country.

    Now to fun stuff:
    Steve has proved to be the snack-master, since our car is littered in Butterfingers, Nerds, Saltsticks, weird blue soda drinks and Twinkies. We're a candy-shop on four wheels, it seems. I did endulge in a doughnut today and Luke inhales Twinkies like he won't get anything else, so we're all equally guilty of having a good time.😉
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