Welcome to Nicaragua......

Granada and Lake Nicaragua

James......

Jude........

Janet........

James emerging from the mist!

a baby boa!

We made it to Nicaragua! Quite an eventful journey yesterday which involved queuing at the Costa Rican border control for ages whilst being hastled my money changers, being charged a lot more than the local people on the bus to enter Nicaragua (hmmmmmmm, think we funded the bus drivers next couple of meals!), having our passports put in a plastic carrier bag and taken somewhere, having to pile off the bus and grab our luggage while Nicaraguan customs officers chucked it off the bus, drag our bags to a random table in the baking sunshine and queue up some more while they randomly checked bags (although I don´t think they actually checked any!!), retrieve our passports from a fierce looking border guard, get back on the bus which by this time was an oven, find out our bus didn´t go to where we thought it was going, get dropped off on the outskirts of a random town, hunt for a very elusive bus station which turned out to be through a cavernous market, and finally get on an old yellow American school bus with bullet holes in the windscreen for a bumpy 1 1/2 hr journey to Granada. Phew. Anyway it was worth it, Granada is a lovely colonial city near Lake Nicaragua with a great chilled-out atmosphere. You can see an active volcano from here too! But tomorrow we are off again, hot footing it through Nicaragua into Honduras, San Pedro Sula to be precise. From there we go to Puerto Cortes to catch a boat to Belize on Monday.....hopefully!!!!!!

The rest of our time in Costa Rica was brill. The canopy tour was great fun, swinging through cloud rainforest and very high-up! A total of 3 km of cables, the longest wire was over 1/2 mile and the highest 130 m above the ground. Also in Monteverde, Janet, James and myself got to hold a one-year old boa constrictor at the serpentarium, those of you who know about my phobia will understand what a big deal this was for me!!!!!! And on our last day in Costa Rica James celebrated his 30th birthday in San Jose :)

xJ&Jx

Costa Rica.....Pura Vida.......

Humming away

Sinister looking caiman

Cute little bird

White faced monkey

Awesome butterfly!

Hola Chicos and Chicas!

We are having a great time in Costa Rica with Mummy G (that’s James’ mum for those of you who don’t know!), despite it being the rainy season and seeing an awful lot of torrential rain in the afternoons (it is still really warm though and it’s sunny in the mornings and fine in the evenings) !! Stunning country, the people here are so friendly and the variety of wildlife, flora and fauna is amazing……….

At the moment we are in a place called Monteverde, arrived here after a very bumpy ride in a jeep followed by a boat trip over a lake and then an even more bumpy ride on another jeep (parts of the roads have been washed away by rain so buses can't negotiate them at the moment). Monteverde is in the north of Costa Rica towards the West. The village was created by some American Quakers, it's very beautiful, surrounded by lush farmland and thick cloud rainforest. Tomorrow morning we are off on a canopy tour through the cloud rainforest which involves swinging from sky lines (kind of like flying foxes and tarzan swings!!!) and walking over bridges that are very high-up, can't wait!!!!

We came here from La Fortuna (also in the North of Costa Rica), famous for its active volcano, Volcan Arenal, one of the ten most active in the world. We were there for 2 nights, stayed in an eco lodge which had hummingbirds in the garden. Not bad! Walked to a fab waterfall yesterday morning and then had a walk through rainforest late yesterday afternoon. Saw a spider monkey and heard the growl of howler monkeys! After that, when it was dark, we went to watch lava erupting from the volcano and flowing down the side of the volcano (all from a very safe distance!). Incredible to see. And we were surrounded by fireflies flickering away. After such a hard day, we needed to go and have a soak in some hot springs, complete with 25 pools of varying temperatures and 3 wet bars!!!

Before La Fortuna, we did a 3 day trip to Tortuguero National Park, which is on the Caribbean Coast. It didn't rain so much there as it is not the rainy season in that part of the country. In fact in was really hot and sunny most of the time, the sea was so warm, like a bath, but it is not safe to swim in because of dangerous currents. However, we stayed in a fabulous lodge with a swimming pool! Tortuguero National Park consists of jungle surrounded by waterways and a beach (with black sand). The beach is where the endangered green sea turtles lay their eggs. Luckily we caught the end of the nesting season and were able to go on a night tour to the beach to see the turtles laying their eggs. The adult turtles weigh 200 pounds, so it really is something to see them haul themselves up the beach, dig a nest and lay eggs, and then haul themselves back to sea. We also got up really early one morning to see baby turtles hatching from these nests (James also saved a freshly hatched baby turtle from burning hot sand during the day and put it safely out to sea!!!) Seeing the turtles is one of the highlights of our trip so far, very moving. Lots of wildlife in the jungle too, we went on two wildlife spotting boat trips along the waterways, one early in the morning and one in the afternoon, and did a trek through the jungle. Saw soooooo much, three types of monkey (spider, howler and white faced monkeys), sloths, caimans, crocodiles, lizards, frogs and tons of different birds. All-in-all, it really was an amazing trip.

Previous to that trip, we spent a couple of days in Alajuela at a B&B on a small farm with lots of orange trees, 3 big dogs and some pigs, which was owned and run by a nice nutter! Took a trip to a great butterfly farm, there are so many beautiful brightly coloured butterflies over here. And then we spent a day in San Jose, the capital city, before our Torteguerro trip.

We leave Monteverde the day after tomorrow. Spend a day in San Jose (when it is James 30th Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and the day after that, Mummy G flies home and we are getting the bus to Nicaragua.......

loadsa love
J&Jxxxx

Arequipa to Lima. Adios South America!

Volcano backdrop to Arequipa

White stone buildings

Chillin' by the pool!

Well, Arequipa was everything we had hoped for. Beautiful architecture, relaxed, lower altitude and warm! We stayed in a great hostel with a pool, awesome buffet breakfast and a great little restaurant.

The city itself is set against 3 Volcanoes, one of which is active. The buildings are made from white volcanic stone, which looks and fells very similar to pumice. We did the usual wander around town and visited a museum containing the mummified body of Juanita, an Inca girl sacrificed to the volcano (volcanos were believed to be Gods) some 500 years ago and perfectly preserved in the permafrost until volcanic ash melted it in the 1990s, really interesting insight in to the ritualistic aspect of the Incas lives.

This was the extent of our culture in Arequipa as we wanted to make the most of the relaxed atmos before heading to Lima, which we knew was going to be quite the opposite!
It was! After a 15hr delayed bus journey thanks to hydraulics, we made it to Lima. Busy, bustling, slightly chaotic slum surrounded city, with contrasting flash hotels and shopping malls in the centre, set on high cliffs above the sea with a permanent fog!! Doesn’t it sound nice!!! Mmmmmm. We stayed in the Mirraflores area, which, to be fair was OK. Our main reason for visiting was our flight left from there to Costa Rica! We had a wander round, ate dinner then prepared for our flight the next day!

I (Jimmyg) was quite please to have avoided any illness in South America, but it got me! On the day of the flight I woke feeling sick, and then proceeded to try and find Huey down the plane toilet for the majority of the flight! Possibly the worst day of my life, made worse by a last minute aborted landing due to bad weather resulting in and extra 40 mins in the air! We did however make it safely, met MummyG and have proceeded to have an amazing time in Cost Rica.

South America is incredible. Our travels were hard work at times, but soooooo rewarding. It was above and beyond our expectations. Out of this world scenery and proud and friendly people. Possibly the highlight personally has been learning the Language, we can converse, understand and even chat a little which has multiplied the experience. Spanish lessons for sure when we return!!!

Well, love to all and time is ticking away!!!

Xxj&jxx

Copa to Cuzco..The mighty Machu!!

Machu Picchu
Ollantaytambo. Sacred valley.
Pisaq. Sacred Valley.

Quick fire posts here, but we had to keep them seperate due to the enormity of the places vivited in terms of Travel destinations!!.. Namely Machu Picchu!!!!!!!

Soooo from copa we hopped on another bus! in the direction of Cuzco, Peru, and the worst bus journey so far!!! cramped, packed and 11.5 hours long, 2 hours longer than expexted, but hey ho it was worth it for the resulting city at the end. Cuzco!! Beatifull, clean, relaxed - larger that expected - town with truely amazing Inca inspired architecture, great musems -modern Art, Pre-Colombian and numerous others- combined with great restaurants and the odd Enlish pub selling Speckled Hen!! which is nice!! Of course our main reason for heading here was Machu Picchu!
We didn´t book the Inca trail as this books up 3 months in advance and we didn´t want to tie ourseves to a date. So we shopped around on arrival and found a 3 day bargain tour including the sacred valley, entrance to Machu, two nights accomodation in Aguas Callientes including breakfast and train journeys, for a bargain $130 each!! We were quite plaesed about this and the fact that the trip worked out perfectly! The Sacred alley trip was incredible, the valley is surrounded by towering Andesite mountains, and was sacred to the incas due to the pleasant climate and incredibly fertile soil, which it clearly is. We visited the Ince runs of Pisaq, and Ollantaytambo, the latter being the most accesible and spectacular, we spent hours wandering around here. After that we go the train to Aguas Callienntes ( meaning "Hot Water", due to the thermal spring) which is the base town for Machu.
We got the bus the next morning at 5.30am to catch the sun rise over Machu Picchu, which never really happen due to mist, but it was a great experince non the less. Nothing can prepare you for the sheer spectacle of the site, perched right in the top of a huge mountain with incredible drops off either side!! But if this wasn´t spectacle enough, we decided to walk to wayna Picchu, approx 200meters above Machu, up quite a trecherous climb, but so worth it. It looks down on Machu providing the most incredible views and steep drops, my fear of hights kicked in and I spent most of my time clinging on to rocks and wires. The Inca ruins at the top are thought to have been a possile retreat. The fact they built on such incredible terrain is bewildering. We decided to blame it on the perpetual chewing of the coca leaf, which seem to be linked to many feats of human endurance in the north of this continent!! NUTTERS!!....
In the afternoon we visited the inca bridge, which spans a cliff face which allowed them to traverse a ridge, hopefull we will be up to date on the Photo front today, so check them out, there are quite a few!!!

We are now killing time before our bus to Arequipa this evening (the town my grandad Galloway grew up in!!) It´s the second biggest city in Peru and famed for it´s white building an surrounding Volcans! we arrive there on the 8th, and spend 2 nght before Lima and our flight to Costa Rica to see Mummy G!!!!!!

The count down beigins now, just over 8 weeks untill we return!! Doesn´t time fly!!

Check below for the other post if you haven´t already read it....

love to all.
xxj&jxx

La Paz to Copacabana

La Paz houses
Locals at the bus station
Copa centre. The blessing of the cars!!

Hey all... It´s been a while thanks to a busy 10 days.

La Paz turned out to be a lot more intersting than we expected and also not as unsafe as we had heard. We stayed in a great Hostal called the Adventure Brew, which included free all you can eat pancake breakfast! and one free beer - brewed on the premises - every night! which was just as well because thanks to the altitude smog, general filthy air and possibly a little bit of dodgy food Jude was ill for 3 days! So it was a blessing that we were in a nice hostal.
We had 2 days of sight seeng before Jude was struck down, and in that time we managed a few museums (one about the history of the Coca plant), a photo expo and the witches and local markets, so not a complete loss, and got a good feel for the city, which is completely MANIC!!

After 4 night we were ready to move on so we got the bus to Copacabana on the shore of lake Titicaca. The journey there was amazing, at one point we got on a little boat to cross the lake whilst the bus was put on a rickety wooden barge and floated across!! Absolutly hilarious, huge bussess bobbing around all over the place...Once in Copa we had a slpurge for $3 each per night in a great Hostal with an equally great Restaurant next to it with SALAD!!! which is rare, and if you do find it it is normally rinsed in dodgy water! The resaturants was sterile!!! awww yeah!!
Copa is a real hippy town and a bit touristy but nice and chilled and right on the lake, a blessed relief from La Paz.

From Copa we did a day trip to the Isla del Sol, a 2 hours boat ride on titicac. It´s the island the Incas believe the Sun was born from, and was our firs taste of Inca ruins. the boat drops you at the north where you visit a small museum and some ruins before a 3 hour walk to the south where the boat collects you and takes you back, and this was where the fun began!! The outboard motor was being a little tempramental, after a lot of stopping and staring and bobbing about, it finally packed up about 20 mins in to the journey back!! We spent about an hour bobbing around whilst the driver stripped the motor, which thankfully worked and we made it back safely one and a half hours late!! Comedy!!

Bolivia is renowned for it´s tempramental transport and infastructure and it was great to experience some of the problems, the journeys we took all be it by train bus or boat have been the most memorable of our travels so far, and that combined with the truely stunning out-of-this-world scenery has made it our top country so far. It´s been hard work, but ultimately rewarding!

Another post to follow this as we have been busy bees so eyes up!
xxj&jxx

p.s. lake Titicaca is soooo massive it´s like being by the sea!! without waves!