Team Dalziel

I wanted to say thank you to all of you for your loyalty and love and kindness over the years. We are on our way back to Victoria, but only for a week. Rod has been offered his position back in Smithers again and it is a really good opportunity for him. There is alot of room for growth and advancement in his job in Smithers that he can't get anywhere else. It is the best place for us to be at the moment. I need a home, and I need to live with my husband. It's been too hard these last couple of years not having a permenant place to live. I did grow to love Smithers last summer and am also excited for a little change. It will be exciting. All of our ... read more

Q: How many people can you fit in an 11 seat collectivo minibus? From the town of Coban, Guatamala we arranged a tour which took us through the depressingly deforested hills to a remote protected area. The area encompasses the gorgeous river and pools of Semuc Champey carved into the limestone rock of the area. A short hike into the park brought us along the river and up to the beautiful turquoise pools. We then headed up the steep path in the morning heat and intense humidity through the forest up to an incredible lookout high above the pools (well worth the climb). Back down to the pools and a refreshing swim and lunch. Our guide then showed us where the river heads through a limestone cave leaving the shallow and calm pools above. He ... read more

The road to Honduras began at 3am at the Bearded Monkey Hostel in Granada, Nicaragua. From there the marathon began with an hour taxi ride into Managua to board the Tica bus at 5am. A few hours to the Honduran border with the usual young, armed men digging through the buses cargo. Off again for a few hours to the Honduran capital of Tegucigulpa and an hour stopover before loading back on the bus and few more hours up to San Pedro Sula in the northwest of the country. Got off the bus here and taxied to another bus station to load onto a local bus for the couple hour ride to La Ceiba on the northern coast arriving a little after 9pm. The 18 hour travel day covered some serious ground and now overnighting ... read more

Buenos Dias Mi Familia y Amigos, When we last left you we were preparing to cross the border from Costa Rica into Nicaragua. After the hours of waiting on the Costa Rica side all went well. We boarded a small riverboat filled with locals heading up the Rio Frio. We crossed over the border on the river and checked in with immigration in the next town of San Carlos, Nicaragua. Nicaragua is by far a much poorer country, one of the poorest in the Americas which is clearly evident in the countries infrastructure let alone the homes and businesses but it is a bonus for us as our money will go much further here than Costa Rica. The Nicaraguan people have been fantastic very pleasant and friendly although very little English is spoken which makes a ... read more

So, we were pretty excited to go to MonteVerde and check out the cloud forest, get a little rain, yada yada. Well, I think this was the dryest place so far. They are supposed to have 2 seasons....wet and more wet. We didn´t see a drop of rain. Nor did we see a forest in the clouds. OK, first the drive there. It is advertised as a Jeep Boat Jeep tour to get from LaFortuna to MonteVerde. Sounds pretty fun? Well, there was no Jeep to be found. It was more like Van Boat Van. And the roads! Wow! We were driving on the side of a cliff for 2 hours. It was the craziest road that I have been on so far. The locals keep the roads in rough conditions to try to keep people ... read more