Hola Chicos! Well downwards we go! Mountains, mountains and more mountains. One thing not to understate is the windiness of all of Colombia´s major highways. No bus trip is complete without a switchbacking climb or decent over a mountain or two. And accompanying the driver´s wild racecar anitics are some amazing vistas of the surrounding contryside. Just georgous. The last few weeks have seen us exploring exactly what Colombia is all about. On our way to Bogota from Venezuala, we stopped at the historic colonial town of Giron, complete with cobblestone roads and traditional whitew [View Full Entry]

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Hey Everyone, We arrived in the town of Merida, Venezuela on Friday February 8th. During the previous 24 hrs of traveling we had: one bus breakdown, 8 military check stops and a scenic detour though the slums of Venezuela´s second largest city (still can´t figure out why). The check stops were surprisingly easy for us although one elderly lady on the bus was bribing every officer as she had no ID. One glance at the cover of our Canadain passport was all they needed for us! A highlight was acending the Teleferico cable car in Merida. It is the worlds longest [View Full Entry]

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Hey All, Well after two weeks on the continent of South America, now´s the time to fill you in on the Carribean Coast of Colombia... So we flew into Cartagena from Panama City and spent 5 days in this cool colonial city. Lots of history; Cartagena was the most important port city in Spanish Empire to move the gold off this continent. As a result, it has built up some impressive architecture including large elaborate cathedreals, huge stone walls, and numerous forts and convents scattered around the area. Highlights in Cartegena would definately be walking around the old city ceter, wh [View Full Entry]

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Hey Everyone, Greetings from Colombia! As you can see we are alive and well and definately taking advantage of the beauty and diversity that Colombia has to offer. Another blog is coming soon for the Colombian Coast, as this page is all about our trek to Ciudad Perdida or the ¨Lost City.¨ Located in the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Lost City is an ancient site that housed around 1500 inhabitants from an indigenous tribe that does not exist any more (built around 500 AD). The city is a marvel of engineering, built on a steep valley wall using thousands of [View Full Entry]

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Panama City! Big place, home to over a million people. Its skyline looks very similar to Vancouver´s, with many more under construction. Panama is an international banking center with over 80 international banks (including ScotiaBank) and the skyline reflects this. After an extremely cold (like sleeping bag cold) overnight bus from Bocas del Torro, we arrived in the city. Panama city is very influenced by the U.S., with freeways, big bridges and huge shopping malls. The US had full sovereignty over the Canal Zone until 2000 so I guess it only makes sense....(not to mention every Amer [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to the Caribbean! After spending 3 - 4 weeks on the Pacific, we moved for a taste of the Carribbean.... We headed straight to a quaint little town called Cahuita. In Cahuita we spent time exploring Cahuita National Park. It gave us a good feeling for what the caribbean coast is all about. Ben found a deserted beach and got a couple surf sessions under his belt. The one thing I found different about the Caribbean is the tide only flucuates about a foot so it feels like high tide. It is also shady on the beach after 10am due [View Full Entry]

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Happy Holidays! Greetings from the sun, the sand and the surf! We are having a very different holiday experience than the one we are both used to back at home! So we finally met up with our good buddy Erik in a little surf town on the southern tip of the Nicoya Pennisula called Mal Pais/Santa Theresa (basically a gravel strip with shops all along it spread between two municipalities). We have been living it up as surf bums for almost the last three weeks. Life is pretty simple down here; eat, sleep and surf, which has caused the two of [View Full Entry]

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We came down to the Osa Pennisual to visit Nastassia's friend Kate (they worked in whistler together) who is teaching English just outside of Peurto Jiminez for a year. We met up with her and made some plans to venture into the wild Corcovado National Park to see some untamed jungle life. With a few tents rented, we caught a collectivo (truck taxi) to the park entrance and hiked 3kms down the beach to a beautiful campsite. From here we did two, one-day hikes; one down the rugged and very beautiful coast, the other into the jungle depths. Nastassia managed to [View Full Entry]

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To get to Costa Rica, the final leg of our voyage in Nicaragua consisted of a 10 hr overnight ferry ride to the southern end of lake Nicaragua. Luckly it didn't rain so Ben found a place to stretch out on the deck while Nastassia scored a bench all to herself inside. We even managed to catch a few hours of shut eye in between all the stops on the way down the lake. Three stops later we pulled into the town of San Carlos at the entrance to the Rio San Juan which drains Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean. From [View Full Entry]

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Hola all, Sorry for the long repreve from the computer, but we're finally back into the technology savy areas of Costa Rica that have faster (and cheaper) internet connections. So hgappy reading... After Granada, we decided to return to CR on a path slightly less followed... i.e. by ferry down Lake Nicaragua. The first portion of this journey took us on a 4 hour boat ride to the Island of Ometepe. We jumped ship here and made plans to catch the next one passing by that left in 3 days, giving us some time to explore this cool island. The island [View Full Entry]

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