Christmas and New Year in Roatan (Bay Islands, Honduras)

We were really happy to meet up with Sarah and Rob who had flown out to meet us from Canada for a holiday. Over a few beers we made some plans for our time together...

Starting with some diving lessons, we took Rob back to school to try and earn our PADI open water certification. We spread this across 4 days and with the help of Mel our bouncy Australian dive instructor learned how to breath and behave underwater. Roatan was the perfect place to learn with crystal clear sea, calm water, amazing reefs, fish and of course sunshiny days. (thanks to Howie and Esther we are now open water qualified).

On Christmas eve we went over to Infinity Bay (Sarah and Robs cool condo) where we stayed up drinking vino tinto and cuba libres while eating some amazing deli treats and lobster tails Sarah bought locally. After midnight we exchanged gifts (thanks Nats for sending over Lisa's present she needed some new pants).

We all woke for egg sandwiches at 5am and then went out to find our captain as we had decided to go fishing for the morning. Unfortunately the boat had broken so this was postponed until the afternoon, allowing us to sober up and go back to bed. On the boat we caught some tuna (including a Blue Fin, mmm sushi) and a big old Baracooda. Drinking beer and catching fish, the perfect way to spend Christmas in the sun! (thanks to Rob & Sarah for this treat).

The next few days were spent enjoying the sunshine, with more snorkelling, fishing and diving. We enjoyed the Open Water course so much we decided to take it to the next level and become Advanced Open Water divers, this included a series of adventure dives - deep diving, wreck diving, underwater acrobatics, underwater navigation and drift diving. (thanks Jez and the Dickens family).

For New Year we joined "the Hunts" for a hog roast by the beach washed down with champers and a caribbean live band. After midnight we took to the beach to watch some locals dance with fire, which was very cool.

Pupusas, pupuserias and no gringos in San Salvador

After a 13 hour bus ride through Nicaragua and Honduras we got to El Salvador's capital city of San Salvador. Driving through the city we couldn't help but notice the many cemeteries (a chilling 70000 civilians died here in the 1980's civil war). Bizarrely in one of the cemeteries a band of school children were playing the rocky theme tune.

After stepping over a half dead tramp and walking past prostitutes in doorways we found our "recommended" hotel. The central location being the only thing going for it. Another place where the book advises not to go out after dark, we decided what the hell as we hadn`t had a proper lunch and Mikee fancied Pizza Hut.

The busy streets were full of people and market stalls (selling mainly porn DVDs, pants and Christian music), we guess they were doing some last minute Christmas shopping as it was a frenzy of activity.

The locals were all really friendly wanting to talk to us to practise their English, lots of people we surprised when we told them we were here as tourists (we didn't have the heart to tell them we were actually only passing through for a connecting flight). After many hand shaking's we realised that we were the only tourists in the entire city, quite a novel and refreshing feeling.

Our final meal was the local speciality which everyone recommended - Pupusas: palm sized tortillas made of corn or rice meal, stuffed with re fried beans and cheese, served with watery tomato sauce and (dodgy) pickled cabbage.

Managua and the hotel of doom!

Catching a bus to the americanised Managua (the capital of Nicaragua which has been destroyed five times by earthquakes, fire, revolutions and floods) we arrived at the bus terminal determined to stay somewhere near the international bus terminal as we had booked tickets to El Salvador for 5am the following morning. Taking note of the "don't go out at night" tourist advice we chose a hotel only 2 minutes walk from the terminal. The price was 5 times the guide price and it was a complete dive. It was suggested that in the morning we hire an armed escort for the 200m walk to the terminal, assuming this was protection money we agreed.

Quite pleased to be out of Managua!

Nic(e)aragua

Taking a chicken bus to the colonial town of Granada, we had a look around and took some cool photos - a pretty place with lots of character, lovely architecture and friendly people.

Volcano Climbing

Heading over to the Island of Ometepe in the middle of Lago Nicaragua on the roof of a boat with no guard rails, we chatted with friendly locals who pointed us in the direction of the best spots on these twin volcanoes . Getting on the local bus, we were approached by a guide who offered to show us a good hotel. On the way he let slip that he would like to guide us up one of the volcanoes and no sooner had the suggestion passed his lips, we were organising a packed lunch and early start.

At 4am the next morning we caught a bus to the start of the Volcan Maderas trail. This would take us up to the summit 1400m above sea level, quite a climb for one day.

On the way we stopped to talk to environmentalists catching birds to check for avian flu, smelt herbal remedies for colds and sore throats, ate flowers and coffee beans fresh from the tree (quite unusual), made faces at Cappachino and Howler monkeys, touched 10000 year old petroglyphs (stone sculptures) stepped on massive ants and scrambled up over 4km of steep muddy volcano.

At the peak the mist had descended so we trekked down into the crater to see the lagoon and eat a bite of lunch. A very spooky place but worth the effort. Unfortunately the water was too cold for a swim.

On the way down we slipped pretty much all the way and after 8 hours reached the bottom with sore knees, dirty feet and a massive sense of satisfaction. We had just climbed a volcano - Woo Hoo! (thanks Daniel C)

Just in the Nic(aragua) of time

Leaving the guys at the airport, we headed to the bus station only to be told that the next bus to Nicaragua was either in three days, or Christmas day. However by hanging around and looking lost we managed to get last minute replacement seats on an international bus! Lucky Lucky!

Crossing the border through to Nicaragua was an interesting gameshow experience with the use of the traffic light system of checking bags, instead of checking everyone, each passenger presses a large button and if the massive light goes green you don't get checked, if it goes red you have to open up your bags. We both got green lights - WINNERS!

We got off the bus at the surfer town of San Juan del Sur. Full of "USA dudes" this little backwater town on the coast sucked us in for a couple of days in the baking Pacific heat, walking around the headland and taking time to enjoy a beer with one of the most amazing sunsets we have ever seen.

Pura Vida in Costa Rica with Slothboy and the Wolf

Now in Central America and have met up with Adam and Mike. As there are four of us we have split the cost of a 4x4 and are enjoying the lack of paving and dangerous driving of Costa Rica.

First up, we took some time to get to grips with San Jose, being a hot spot for American tourism, Costa Rica is full of McDonalds, Subways and Taco Bell, so no culture here to worry about. When Mike and Adam arrived we made sure to greet them at the airport and indoctrinate them into the travelling vibe by equipping them with special travelling outfits, a cool T-shirt for Mike (Wolf) and some groovy travelling tie dye trousers and bum bag for Adam.

Thanks to some airline miscommunication Adam's bag was left in London so we spent an extra day in San Jose & visited Volcan Poas (with a detour to pick up a sat nav, one of the most essential pieces of equipment for Costa Rica where signage is always after the junction, handy if you want to know that you have just missed your turning). The Volcano was "awesome" and we luckly got to see it belching smoke.

After a night with some Californian dudes "NO WAY MAN" we hit the road towards Monteverde Cloud Forest. Thanking God for GPS we manged to cruise through the amazing scenery of Costa Rica and find the town. Picking up a random raver to make the journey more entertaining (Vix from Wales) we found some accomodation and while Lisa and Adam explored the bars, Mike and Mikee went in search of animals in the jungle at night.

Getting up for a day of excitement we first went to Sky Trek, a series of hig wire canopy zip lines, the longest of which being over a kilometer long, thrilling (thanks Ed)! We then went on a tour of the cloud forest along some suspension bridges but managed to see nothing more than forests of trees. At the end of the walk however there were a bunch of humming bird feeders which were quite something to watch with lots of humming birds zipping around us.

Getting into the Rav4 we sped up the road a full 16km, which took the best part of 3 hours thanks to the track being what would be called 'extreme off road' in any other country - bumpy and entertaining all the way, even the GPS got a bit lost but we manged to get to Volcano Arenal which was covered in cloud. Luckly there was the largest hot spring complex to explore (with over 30 pools and bars in some of them), after trying out all the pools (including the 68 degree pool which just cooks you) we got some American size portions of dinner and headed back to the hotel feeling a little weary (thank-you Becca & Mark for our hot springs).

On arrival at the hotel Mike (Wolf) spotted the top of the volcano as the cloud was lifting and the red glow motivated us to head around to the other side to see if we could see some lava flowing from this live monster. After 15 minutes of driving we were rewarded with the sight of the volcano spilling lava down its slopes at high velocity. "Awesome"!

Wanting to make the most of the time we had we took a quick swim in the pool and got in the car to head for Tamarindo (surfer beach on the Pacific coast). Getting frustrated at the lack of progress on the one lane "Pan American Highway" Mikee decided to overtake with much encouragement from the whole car "at last some clear road, oh that looks like a police man". Apparently the speed limit in Costa Rica is 80kph, NOT 130kph. A lesson which cost us $40.

Tamerindo was torrential rain so we befriended a Swiss couple who promptly bought us all pizza and rum! First though, Lisa met her twin from California (try and figure out which one is Lisa below). The next day was for chilling by the beach watching the surfers. Before heading off the next day to an amazing shell beach for snorkelling and monkey watching.

Montezuma, is a hippy paradise on the Nicoya Peninsula. With miles of beaches and only one lively bar. After a few beers we joined some hippies for some drum bashing and star gazing around a fire on the beach - about as chilled out as it gets! Lisa managed to see 12 shooting stars, (a new record).

The next day we took a speed boat to Tortuga Island for a day of snorkelling, sunbathing and a delicious beach BBQ (thanks to the Baird family for this brilliant trip), which set us up for another late night of drinking & ragaton music in the lively bar.

Our final morning in Montezuma was spent walking to the waterfall, 30meters high with a natural swimming pool at the base it was only right that one of mikes flip flops be sacrificed to the stream making the walk a delicate operation.

Leaving Montezuma we went to catch the ferry back to San Jose (do you know the way?), unfortunately the timing was not great as everyone else headed back to the capital too. The wait was over 3 hours meaning a late arrival back at the hotel. Luckly Mike managed to phone ahead and (IN SPANISH) inform the hotel manager to book us all on a rafting trip for the next morning!

Rafting: Getting up at 6am for the transfer to the Pacuare river tired yet excited we headed out for a day of class 3-4 whitewater rafting. Stopping only for some lunch and to pick Lisa and Wolf out of the river after they popped out of the raft in the rapids, we finally understood why it is called rainforest, but being soaked didn't stop us loving the float along in the jungle. (Pics to follow when Wolf uploads them!). Thanks KT & Mark for this adventure!

Getting back to San Jose we had a traditional meal of KFC and hit the hay to get ready for the last leg of the Costa Rica holiday - the Carribean cost.

With a more laid back vide and less American tourists we sat back and enjoyed the last few days of Carribean sunshine with fantastic iced coffees, cool hotel pool, reagge music and tropical beaches lined with rainforests for hiking through. Adam found an affinity with the Costa Rican Sloth, kindred spirits indeed.

Negotiating one of the most dangerous roads in Central America (at night, not a good idea if it can be helped) we made it back to San Jose in time to pack and get ourselves to a middle eastern restraunt for some excellent kebab and hooka pipe smoking, the perfect end to a fun 2 weeks.

(more pictures to follow once the Wolf uploads his snaps).