http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/K-and-L/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from K and L en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:33:42 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:33:42 +0000 So as you can tell we are back safe and sound from our expedition into the jungle and I have to say it was the experience of a lifetime. I have never been on such a good trip. Unfortunately it has been marred by the fact that while I was getting off the boat when we got back someone stole my camara so I have no pictures.The group included Stav Israeli Paul Emma Will Laura and I all English http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-423585.html 24th June From Quito we headed north to a town called Otavalo which is known for its craft market. We arrived late afternoon on Wednesday never believe them when they say the bus will only take 2 hours and having found somewhere to stay we headed straight out into the market. It is colder than we were expecting in Equador so Alpaca socks hats blankets etc were the order of the day You can http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Otavalo/blog-412941.html After a late and slightly fraught flight to Quitos at one point only Laura had a seat on the plane we spent our first day relaxing and wandering around the city. It is surrounded by the Andes on one side and on the other it dips to the beginning of the Amazon Basin so the surrounding area is absolutely stunning. Quito itself however is much like any other city.On our second day we heading to the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-412926.html We arrived in Panama and planned to spend 3 days there before heading to Equador however soon realised that due to our own lack of organisation we were going to have to spend 5 days there before we could get a flight. As it turned out though we loved Panama City so this was no hardship.The hostel we were staying in was called Lunas Castle which was a massive restored colonial building with balconi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-411878.html From Tamarindo we decided to head to Monteverde. 3 buses and serveral hours later we found ourselves stuck in a small town called Tilaran we got off of the bus and found ourselves as usual fending off the local taxi drivers on this occasion howver the were quite helpful and informed us that we wouldnt be going anywhere until tomorrow unless we took up their offer of a 40 taxi No thank you.So http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Guanacaste/Nuevo-Arenal/blog-408234.html On arrival in Costa Rica we travelled to the nearest town of any size and found ourselves in rainy Liberia. The hostel that we stayed in was apparently the only tourist information in the town and the owner was particularly knowledgable and helpful according to the guidebook. When we asked him for advice on where to go he told us to rent a 4x4 and go anywhere that was not in the guidebook. Great http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-408229.html On Tuesday we made our way from Managua to the Island of Ometepe. The island is formed by 2 extinct volcanos and is surrounded by the Lago de Nicaragua. The lake was originally joined to the sea but was closed off due to volcanic activity resulting in sea fish being trapped in the lake. As a result the Lago de Nicaragua is one of the few places in the world which has freshwater sharks. We arrived http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/Balgue/blog-405727.html When we arrived in the capital of Nicaragua from El Salvador we decided to head straight for the city of Granada for a few days. We both felt that we needed a couple of days in the same place and it also meant that we could do all the boring things like laundry etc. Granada is another colonial city and was very pretty. On our first full day there we explored the city climbed up the bell tower of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-404629.html So we have been and left El Salvador but we loved it so much that we want to tell you all about it. We arrived on 17th May and spent our first few days at the beach. We managed to catch our first chicken bus and headed for Playa El Tunco which is THE place for catching waves in Central America and is a mecca for surfer dudes. Naturally that meant we had to pay it a visit with the intention of hav http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/El-Salvador/El-Tunco/blog-401771.html Yesterday we arrived in Panajachel which is a nice little town on the edge of the Lago de Atitlan. The town is very small and the only things to do here really are hang out and shop for handicrafts...so thats what we have done. This morning we took the boat across the lake to a village called Santiago Atitlan which is between 3 volcanos. The journey over was in a Lancho Publico public taxi boat http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Lago-de-Atitlan/Panajachel/blog-399259.html 120509Yesterday we spent the day in Antigua it is a beautiful colonical city surrounded by 3 volcanos. Although it is a city there are no highrise buildings and the parque central is a pretty little square with the cathedral at one end. We started by wandering around the streets looking in the various artisan shops at the handicrafts available. The woven blankets are beautiful and we were very http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-398960.html Yesterday we spent the day at Samuc Champey and the Kan'ba caves. This is where the bulk of the Rio Cahabon cuts underground creating a suspended limestone bridge forming the series of pools and waterfalls that are Samuc Champey. We started the day in the Kan'ba caves doing a tour by candlelight. This turned out to be walking and climbing through the caves whilst holding a stubby candle as our onl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Coban/Semuc-Champey/blog-398178.html So our first blog entry has been some time in coming but here it is We finally made it to Guatemala City on the evening of 4th May the hostel we had booked for our first night was very good and picked us up from the airport pointed us in the direction of a money changer and generally sorted us out. The guidebook advertised it as a hostel in the safe neighbourhood of the city. This turned out to http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Coban/Semuc-Champey/blog-397567.html