After 25 hours of flying, 11 hours of layovers and 1 missed flight, we are home at last! Unfortunately we both feel like the holiday was short (even though it wasn't) and wish that we were still overseas! Still, it is nice to come home to good weather and we're looking forward to hitting the beaches over the coming weekends.
Hope you have enjoyed sharing our travels with us, see you around!
Mel and Sam.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Another photos post
Sandboarding on Volcano Cerro Negro, Nicaragua
Parque Central in Leon, Nicaragua
View over Granada, Nicaragua from the bell tower of La Merced church
The route to get to the beach, Ometepe Island, Nicaragua. The cows were still there on the way back too.
Ometepe Island from a hammock
The scariest thing we have done so far on the trip- boat ride back from Ometepe Island. It involved huge waves (despite the fact that we were on a lake- albeit a very, very big lake), a crazily rocking boat, far too many people (I was one of many sitting on the floor) and when we got back into port, there was no room at the dock! So we had to climb from out boat to another boat, then from that boat to the dock using these walkways and "hand railings"- that meaning planks of wood held at each end by the boat staff!
Zip lining in Monteverde, Costa Rica
At the moment we´re in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. Tonight we´re visiting a hot springs spa resort (it´s a hard life) and tomorrow a horse riding trip to a waterfall for a swim. Day after that, it´s on to San Jose then home =(
It´s been an awesome trip, ups and downs of course and a few minor illnesses but, overall, I can´t really complain! Only 3 more sleeps...wah.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
No, gracias.
Happy new year! Since leaving Antigua (for the second time) we headed to Copan for our one day stop in Honduras, then to Suchitoto for our one day stop in El Salvador. We've come back to the heat and warm weather, especially now that we're in Nicaragua.
We stayed in Leon for 3 nights and spent one day hiking up Cerro Negro Volcano to sandboard down. You could choose standing or sitting and we opted for sitting, since the people said it was harder than snowboarding and we've never even tried that. Turned out to be a smart idea and one of the people who stood ended up with a gigantic hole in the bum of his shorts from falling and sliding down. The people sitting had these little jumpsuits to protect us a bit but they were a couple short and one of the guys in our group who voluteered to go without one ended up taking a huge chunk of skin off both his forearms!
We had New Years Eve party on a private island which had a party with about 100 people. It was sucha beautiful spot but so awkward to get to (and even more awkward to get away from). Totally isolated and really quiet- it had a backpackers on it but some of the girls staying there who we knew said that they'd had the place to themselves for the last 3 days!
Today we bused over to Granada, which seems to be a nicer city than Leon, with a good restaurant district that I'm looking forward to testing out! Here for 3 nights before going to Ometepe Island for a couple of nights which I'm looking forward to.
Can't believe the trip is nearing it's end already! Only 10 days before we leave :(
Pictures to come later when I have my USB converter thingymajiggy with me.
We stayed in Leon for 3 nights and spent one day hiking up Cerro Negro Volcano to sandboard down. You could choose standing or sitting and we opted for sitting, since the people said it was harder than snowboarding and we've never even tried that. Turned out to be a smart idea and one of the people who stood ended up with a gigantic hole in the bum of his shorts from falling and sliding down. The people sitting had these little jumpsuits to protect us a bit but they were a couple short and one of the guys in our group who voluteered to go without one ended up taking a huge chunk of skin off both his forearms!
We had New Years Eve party on a private island which had a party with about 100 people. It was sucha beautiful spot but so awkward to get to (and even more awkward to get away from). Totally isolated and really quiet- it had a backpackers on it but some of the girls staying there who we knew said that they'd had the place to themselves for the last 3 days!
Today we bused over to Granada, which seems to be a nicer city than Leon, with a good restaurant district that I'm looking forward to testing out! Here for 3 nights before going to Ometepe Island for a couple of nights which I'm looking forward to.
Can't believe the trip is nearing it's end already! Only 10 days before we leave :(
Pictures to come later when I have my USB converter thingymajiggy with me.
Monday, December 28, 2009
La cuenta, por favor.
Feliz navidad! After Flores (where we went to Tikal from) we went to Rio Dulce, where we stayed in another jungle lodge (thankfully with better amenities). The weather was shocking the first day but thankfully cleared up the second day so we could take a boat trip down to Livingston, a Garifuna town on the ocean with fantastic seafood.
After Rio Dulce, we headed to Antigua for the night then to Panajachel for Christmas. Panajachel is a town on Lake Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands. Fortunately we had good weather (after the pouring rain in Caye Caulker, San Ignacio and the first day in Rio Dulce). We had a yummy Christmas eve dinner then on Christmas day took a boat trip on the lake. We had breakfast at a place called Casa del Mundo, a hotel built right on the cliffs on the side of the lake which is completely isolate from any town and you have to catch a boat to get there. The food was amazing and the views even better! We visited a few other little towns on the lake before watching sunset from Pana.
We're back in Antigua now and did the volcano climb of Pacaya yesterday. It's apparently one of the only places in Central America where you can see flowing lava- which was cool but to be honest, I'm not sure it was worth the 2 hour drive then 2 hour hike on dust and volcanic rock where you seemed to slide backwards half the distance you moved forward with each step! I can tell you, our quads, calves and gluts got a massive workout! At the top, where the lava river was, we could toast marshmellows over it, but some of the excitement wore off and the anxiety set in when Sam's shoes started melting... She wasn't the only one to have had that problem, as the shoe soles scattered along the path would suggest.
Tomorrow we leave on a early, early bus to Copan in Honduras. Hopefully good weather awaits us there!
After Rio Dulce, we headed to Antigua for the night then to Panajachel for Christmas. Panajachel is a town on Lake Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands. Fortunately we had good weather (after the pouring rain in Caye Caulker, San Ignacio and the first day in Rio Dulce). We had a yummy Christmas eve dinner then on Christmas day took a boat trip on the lake. We had breakfast at a place called Casa del Mundo, a hotel built right on the cliffs on the side of the lake which is completely isolate from any town and you have to catch a boat to get there. The food was amazing and the views even better! We visited a few other little towns on the lake before watching sunset from Pana.
We're back in Antigua now and did the volcano climb of Pacaya yesterday. It's apparently one of the only places in Central America where you can see flowing lava- which was cool but to be honest, I'm not sure it was worth the 2 hour drive then 2 hour hike on dust and volcanic rock where you seemed to slide backwards half the distance you moved forward with each step! I can tell you, our quads, calves and gluts got a massive workout! At the top, where the lava river was, we could toast marshmellows over it, but some of the excitement wore off and the anxiety set in when Sam's shoes started melting... She wasn't the only one to have had that problem, as the shoe soles scattered along the path would suggest.
Tomorrow we leave on a early, early bus to Copan in Honduras. Hopefully good weather awaits us there!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Pictures from the last...goodness knows how long.
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Isla Mujeres, Mexico
"Chicken bus" we had to ride for around 5 hours across the border into Belize
Snorkelling in Belize
Mel's caving trip to ATM cave in Belize
Sam´s canoeing trip to Barton Creek Caves, Belize
Tikal, Guatemala
Friday, December 18, 2009
Arright?
A quick post from Belize- we finished up our last few days in Playa del Carmen and Cancun in Mexico. Liked Isla Mujeres (a small island off Cancun) and liked the beach Tulum (but too many tourists at the ruins). Didn't like Playa or Cancun much, too touristy and the beaches didn't live up to our expectations.
We were on Caye Caulker, a tiny island in Belize the last couple of days. Went on a snorkelling tip in the worst weather we've have so far! We were sitting on the front of the boat getting drenched by rain and clinging onto the sides of the boat with the wind doing its best on the way out to the reef thinking, "This was a mistake", but when we got there the rain stopped for most of the day and the visibility was amazing! Best snorkelling I've done so far, that's for sure. We saw tonnes of fish, swam with sharks, rays and turtles. Will definitely upload some pictures when I get a chance.
Now we are in San Ignacio, staying in an interesting "hotel". More like school camp really, with tiny cabins and eco toilets (you chuck a handful of sawdust in the toilet to "flush") and shared showers and toilets.
More news later!
We were on Caye Caulker, a tiny island in Belize the last couple of days. Went on a snorkelling tip in the worst weather we've have so far! We were sitting on the front of the boat getting drenched by rain and clinging onto the sides of the boat with the wind doing its best on the way out to the reef thinking, "This was a mistake", but when we got there the rain stopped for most of the day and the visibility was amazing! Best snorkelling I've done so far, that's for sure. We saw tonnes of fish, swam with sharks, rays and turtles. Will definitely upload some pictures when I get a chance.
Now we are in San Ignacio, staying in an interesting "hotel". More like school camp really, with tiny cabins and eco toilets (you chuck a handful of sawdust in the toilet to "flush") and shared showers and toilets.
More news later!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Konnichiwa, senorita.
Hello from Merida! We had our second day in San Cristobal visiting the indigenous Mayan villages (where Sam got to dress up as a Mayan bride) and, in particular, a Mayan-Catholic church in San Juan Cholula. A perfect example of Catholic religion with Mayan traditions, that is, religious synchrotism (according to our guide). Apparently the church was abandoned by the Catholic church for 200 years after the villagers killed the last priest sent there (the next priest was sent just last year). Over that time they developed some interesting "rituals", including the use of shamans, sacrifice of live chickens in the church, laying of pine needles on the floor (to absorb up the bad feelings brought in by visitors) and the use of soft drinks to expel bad feelings (by burping). Unfortunately you can´t take pictures inside the church as it thought to steal part of their souls/the saints spirits, but it was a pretty fascinating scene with candles stuck to the ground over the entire church and a live chicken being pinned down by a girl.
The next day we caught the bus to Palenque (a loooong, winding bus ride through the mountains). The hotel in Palenque was really intersting- they were these bungalow-hippy things in the jungle, and the hotel had a restuarant that had really great live music every night (mostly rasta and jazz).
Palenque were one of our favourite ruins we´ve visited so far, as it´s set in middle of the jungle with monkeys and giant lizards climbing over the stairs. After the ruins we went to Misol-Ha and Agua Azul waterfalls. We went swimming at Agua Azul, which had these natural "swimming holes" below the waterfall. The water was beautiful and we didn´t want to leave!
The following day we travelled to Merida, which is sadly not as nice as we had hoped. The guidebook gave us the impression it would be similar to Oaxaca, but we didn´t find that to be the case. It´s a rougher neighborhood and the zocalo doesn´t have the same atmosphere.
Today we went on a day trip to visit some cenotes (natural swimming holes formed in caves) around the area. They were BEAUTIFUL. The water temperture was perfect and climbing down into the cave you could just see this amazing turqoise water with stalactites and vines hanging from the roof. Again, we just didn´t want to leave!
Tomorrow we head to Playa del Carmen (beach time, yeah baby!). There are also a few changes to the itinerary- much less time in Honduras (due to the upcoming election) and visiting El Salvador instead.
The next day we caught the bus to Palenque (a loooong, winding bus ride through the mountains). The hotel in Palenque was really intersting- they were these bungalow-hippy things in the jungle, and the hotel had a restuarant that had really great live music every night (mostly rasta and jazz).
Palenque were one of our favourite ruins we´ve visited so far, as it´s set in middle of the jungle with monkeys and giant lizards climbing over the stairs. After the ruins we went to Misol-Ha and Agua Azul waterfalls. We went swimming at Agua Azul, which had these natural "swimming holes" below the waterfall. The water was beautiful and we didn´t want to leave!
The following day we travelled to Merida, which is sadly not as nice as we had hoped. The guidebook gave us the impression it would be similar to Oaxaca, but we didn´t find that to be the case. It´s a rougher neighborhood and the zocalo doesn´t have the same atmosphere.
Today we went on a day trip to visit some cenotes (natural swimming holes formed in caves) around the area. They were BEAUTIFUL. The water temperture was perfect and climbing down into the cave you could just see this amazing turqoise water with stalactites and vines hanging from the roof. Again, we just didn´t want to leave!
Tomorrow we head to Playa del Carmen (beach time, yeah baby!). There are also a few changes to the itinerary- much less time in Honduras (due to the upcoming election) and visiting El Salvador instead.
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