Blogs from Antigua & Barbuda, Central America Caribbean
Roatan Beach View
Hola from Honduras!! Hard to believe we have been away a week already. We've had a fantastic time so far - near perfect weather and climate and very friendly people. Our flight into San Pedro Sula on the mainland went smooth. We flew from Fort Lauderdle on Spririt Airlines which flies around the southern States, Central America and the Caribbean. Luckily our overnight hotel provided a shuttle from the airport as it is probably not the safest city to be wandering around in!! Villa Neuira was a former army barricks, heavily walled and guarded and turned into apartments with two gigantic pools whichwe lounged at the next morning. That afternoon we took a 16 passenger shuttle plane over to the island of Roatan. Lisa and Suart who manage our condo met us at the airport and ... read more
Antigua
Carib.110211 Antigua Late start today to go to the Prickly pear island for some snorkelling. A short boat ride brings us to a very small island at which our goupr of 15 are the only ones here. Open bar with rum punch and mixed drinks, beach chairs and snorkle gear. Operated by Miguel and his family this small operation is a hot spot for the tour groups. Went snorkelling and saw some damsel fish, yellow tails some gar and different types of coral. We have pictures of some brain coral but those will ahev to wait till we get back for the developing. OUr lunch had some BBQ chicken red beans and rice some curry and a piec of cod fish. Soon we have to leave way to early. Gonna have to come back here for ... read more
Warrie Pier
Antigua, what can I say. If any place lived up to a post card then this is it.. Lesia better now and sun burn is more of an issue. Sunday tour of the Island culimating with a visit to English harbour and then Shirly Heights to sample the fine scenery and steel pan music was a high light. The management at the REX resort where we stayed put on a meet and greet cocktail party the last night of our stay; an invitation too good to refuse. The food, drink and music went down a treat and we managed to meet the locals and other visitors that we would otherwise probably not interacted with; a very good evening. ... read more
view from MVO
Another busy day today. After breakfast Margaret took Gary and I up to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. It would have been a very strenuous uphill walk so we were glad of the bus ride. The volcano as always was shrouded in cloud - I haven't managed to catch sight of the ominous dome that bubbles up and every so often collapses creating all sorts of havoc. There we watched a film all about the volcano's activities since things got going in July 1995. Astonishing footage of eruptions, enormous black clouds of ash and the city of Plymouth in a state of emergency as everyone is told to evacuate. I have been hearing various personal tales of the volcano and the aftermath of it's explosions and expulsions, but this film put everything into context for me and ... read more
Little Bay
This was quite a treat of a day. I took the boat tour round to the south of the island to see what devastation the volcano had wreaked on Plymouth. The boat trip is the only way you can really get to see Plymouth. As you'll see from the pictures it's quite incredible. Plymouth was the capital of Montserrat and also the area where most of the island's population (then about 12,000) lived and worked. The north of the island was only very sparsely populated. Now the city is still visible though the buildings peep through the from the second floor up as the entire city was deluged initially in ash after the first eruptions in 1995 then by the pyroclastic flows which engulfed the city over the next couple of years. The whole southern part ... read more
Nazca lines
With the protests pushing back our plans we headed onto Nazca a few days later than expected. We knew we needed to organise our trip to the lines the same day we arrived so had enough time for sandboarding too. We arrived with a Canadian couple so after breakfast we headed together to the airport. After trying to bargain the price we settled on a flight and watched a video discussing the mysteries of the lines. Our plane was a small 6 seater and we were swung side to side so everyone could see the lines properly. Our flight focused on roughly 10 of the more famous lines eg the monkey, the dog, astronaut. They were incredible and was worth the cost of the flight... Even if afterwards I was feeling a bit queasy. We found ... read more
Small Beginnings rehearsal
Well after Tuesday's quiet beachy reflections Wednesday was a much more active day. I had a morning appointment with the Minister of Education, Colin Riley and having talked through the options with Margaret (who's looking after me and the other guest, Gary at Olveston House supremely well) I decided to try out the bus to get to the Government Headquarters. It all worked very well, you just wait at the side of the road for a minibus with a green number plate starting with 'H' and flag it down and tell them where you're heading. There's one main route going from Olveston/Salem to the North so the buses just go up and down and during daytime fairly regularly. It cost me 3ECD (East Caribbean Dollars) which works out at about 70p. I sat up with the ... read more
Old Road Bay
Well I had to check out the beach, didn't I? And it was pretty amazing! I was the only person there and it was really long. Just me and the pelicans! I wasted no time getting into the water which was a most perfect temperature and it was sandy and calm as a mill pond. It felt weird being the only person on such a beautiful beach and I wondered if there might be monsters lurking in the deep, but if there were they didn't bother me. The uphill walk back in full blazing sun was quite hard work, but for such a glorious swim well worth it. I have to admit that was it really other than checking emails and updating yesterday's blog. However I don't think anyone in their right mind could come to ... read more
We arrived back in Cusco from the Inca trail saturday night exhausted and ready for bed. Jane's birthday was the same day Lucille & I start Spanish lessons & volunteering so we made Sunday the bigger birthday celebration. We met friends from the Inca trail at The Real McCoy's an English pub that served Sunday roasts, crumble and custard. It may not have compared to our mother's versions but it was very good! In the evening we met up with Aussy Mark and went for drinks and enjoyed some dancing at a local discotheque. The Spanish classes were great, as Lucile had already participated in a week's school we had individual tutors after the first day. They were really good and we learnt a lot. One day my lesson went to a local food Market ... read more
Olveston House
Today was my real introduction to Montserrat with a special tour, but starting off with a very encouraging meeting. I met with Herman Francis, the Minister of Culture in the morning and was very impressed to discover that his work was also very much hands on as he runs various school and community music groups in the evenings and a weekends. I can't imagine there are many other ministers of culture around the world who are so closely involved and dedicated to their ministerial cause. It was also good to find out that there are a variety of music groups that have been running for some time and a fairly substantial selection of instruments available (though some looked rather worse for wear - there was even a very old looking banjolele!). There is 'Small Beginnings' a ... read more
