With one day left to spare on my Visa, the 17 year old Sao Paulo Immigration Officer didn't even blink at the date. He was probably thinking more about the party he had to leave to come to work. It's summer in Brazil and hot. We were picked up from the airport by one of Andrew's friends and taken to lunch and a little tour of Sao Paulo before hopping on a bus to Curitiba. Greeted by Lu at the bus station we shortly arrive at her parents' place in Curitiba. Can't tell you how nice it was to eat our [View Full Entry]

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We´re in this country called Costa Rica in a town called Jaco but why does it feel like we´re back in San Diego? There are many answers to this question but we´re really excited to have made it here. Costa Rica is beautiful and its really nice to be back on the Pacific. Jaco is a definite tourist destination. Not to say it isn´t beautiful, there´s just a bunch of other travelers here. I take it the surf spots are great. We got here on a Sunday night with the hope it would be more like a saturday night. Sunday turned [View Full Entry]

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To get to Costa Rica from Honduras one must pass through this country they call Nicaragua. After a couple days of driving from Utila, a glorious send off from Honduras with and equally welcoming reception from Nicaragua (wish sarcasm translated through writing better) we find ourselves in Leon. It´s a nice colonial town where we spent New Year´s Eve. Lots of fireworks, though not much of a celebration. Next we hit Granada. A slightly nicer colonial town right on a lake. We bought some good cigars to bring in the New Year with some great Mojitos. That´s enough of Nicaragua. Next [View Full Entry]

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So, there´s this place on Earth called Utila. To find it on the map, locate Honduras (such as). On the Carribean coast there are some Islands called the Bay Islands and one of them is called Utila. Though Honduras calms this place as their own, it does not fit in. This is a funny place. Most people would tell you they come to Utila for the diving, which is indeed amazing. We happened to meet many people there that weren´t diving at all, which was perfectly fine. One thing that everyone in this place had in common was to partake in [View Full Entry]

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Anyone crossing from Guatemala to Honduras at Copan, have fun. Guatemala wasn't bad though Honduras had a barn with no electricity for an immigration office with officers just as official. Their attention to detail ended up giving us a bunch of problems when trying to leave the country since a grey pickup is not the same as a blue SUV. I shouldn't be so hard on them, it was probably an honest mistake, including the receipt for a completely different amount than we paid. Just a little teaser for you all. Our first stop was Copan Ruinas. Actually a pretty nice [View Full Entry]

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Next destination was the colonial town of Antigua, complete with cobblestone streets and great views of a nearby volcano. We spent a day checking out the town and the market. We hadn't planned much to do in this city but luckily our hotel owner knew all the things to do. The first excursion landed us hiking up a volcano and practically standing on top of lava. You couldn't stand in one place too long because your shoes would start to melt. I saw one guide showing off by pciking up some bright orange lava with a stick and lighting his cigarette. [View Full Entry]

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So missing a turn in Guatemala seems to equate to driving 100 miles on a dirt road for five hours. Good times, but well worth it. After a top three worst driving days we founf ourselves in an amazing place, Lanquin. The pictures really don't do this place justice and we happen to hit this spot called Semuc Champey on a beautiful day in between rain. It is a rain forest I guess. There's a river flowing under this huge limestone bridge and the little water that flows on top creates a bunch of greenish-blue pools. After checking out this area [View Full Entry]

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We're still alive but now far from some of these places. Flores was a pretty city with red roofed buildings built on a small peninsula. We spent a couple days here exploring, including some highly unregulated caves. Nice chill place in Guatemala. The hotel we stayed at was cool with a palapa roof and hammocks overlooking the lake. [View Full Entry]

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Crossing our third border into Guatemala was fairly painless except if you count the various fees those with badges are so good at extorting from you. Our first stop was Tikal. Not far from the border, Tikal is a massive Mayan city taking all day to see. We got in around dusk, so we set up our tent and went for a bit of a jungle walk. Nightfall came very fast and we found ourselves walking through an ancient Mayan city with no flashlight. It has been a bit cloudy but the full moon came out for a bt when the [View Full Entry]

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Crossing to Belize wasn't much of a hassle and it took some getting used to hearing English again. After a night in Belize city we hit Ambergris Caye for our first taste of Carribean waters. The night we got in was the De la Hoya fight so we hit the local sports bar. These people were not too happy when their boy Oscar didn't show up. The next day we took a snorkeling trip to a couple spots in the reef. 50+ feet of visability & 80 degree water mixed with sea turtles, sharks, rays, millions of fish, and eels really [View Full Entry]

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