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Published: February 22nd 2010
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Costa Rica Wildlife
Cheeky monkeys on Manuel Antonio beach. Our 2 week group tour of Costa Rica gave us lots of wildlife spotting opportunities in the various national parks we visited including monkeys, sloths, iguanas and frogs. We visited the Sloth Sanctuary where the baby sloths were adorable!
We spent Christmas and New Year in Costa Rica at the beach and enjoyed walks along the beaches watching the sunset and celebrating the holidays with champagne around the swimming pool or whilst relaxing in a hammock.
Whilst here we had our most adrenaline producing (and at times terrifying for Andrew) experience of the trip in the form of extreme zip lining. (Why couldnt we stick to watching frogs?!) A total of 12 different zip lines across huge expanse of cloud forest, some as long as 1km at terrific speed, trying desperately not to brake too soon or too late, not always an easy task to achieve. In addition, we were hurled down a 90ft rappell and then bundled off a very high tarzen swing to flounder amongst the canopy. With that particular experience the worst bit was hearing the screams of all the people who went before you, by the time it was our turn we were nervous wrecks!
Sunset over Manuel Antonio beach.
A perfect way to end Christmas day. However, a brilliant experience that we wouldnt want to repeat but were really glad we were brave enough to endure.
Costa Rica also gave us probably our most surreal experience so far on the trip when we arrived back from a trip to a volcano to find the town packed full of people watching a parade of dancing horses and cowboys! At times they seemed to be out of control (see this is why we dont go on horses anymore, honestly dancing horses whatever next) so we agreed not to drink what the locals were drinking and instead head back to the safety of our hotel.
Getting our hair cut proved to be an interesting experience in Puerto Viejo on the caribbean coast. Apparently the clippers here are more severe than ours resulting in David being almost completely bald at the end of the cut! A quick adjustment was required before Andrew had his done (can you imagine the drama if he had gone first)! Following that drama we decided to rent bikes and cycle to the beach at another village. It turned out to be a gruelling, exhausting 18km ride in the midday heat on potholed and
Baby Sloths
Don't you just want to give them a cuddle! bumpy roads and on the way back Davids back tyre fell apart and we were stranded there until we could arrange for a car to come and get us from the town. Who said exercise was good for you? We should have stayed on the beach eating ice-cream.
We then crossed over into Panama (waiting 2 hours at immigration to get into the country) and headed to Bocas del Toro, an archipeligo of islands which are beautiful and relaxing. From there a small prop plane flew us to the capital Panama City which certainly grounded us with its expensive accommodation and requirement to use taxis for all journeys anywhere. We decided to bring our flight to Mexico forward but before we left we had a really enjoyable day at the Panama Canal locks watching the vast ships traverse and learning its development and history. Next time we intend to be on a luxury cruise ship going through instead of watching them.
We loved our time on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Wonderful food, nice people, interesting sights, excellent infrastructure; it has felt like we are on holiday rather than travelling which is a nice change. Our first 3
The Panama Canal
Some of the huge ships passing through. nights we spent on the lovely Isla Mujeres in a great hotel, followed by some time in the Hotel Zone in Cancun. The beaches here have powdery white sand with turquoise blue waters, great for walking along or sitting on and people watching. However, we didnt neglect the Mayan ruins or history and spent a week touring the various sites and temples from Chichen Itza to Tulum before returning to the beach resorts for more chilling.
Merida, in the central Yucatan, was an interesting place to spend a weekend as the town comes alive and the traffic is diverted so the centre can be given over to live music and dancing in the squares (the older people here really give the youngsters a run for their money with the dancing). We even managed to see an amusing Mariachi band (with the tallest Mexican in the world and tightest leather trousers) which was followed by fireworks; a truly Mexican experience.
We retreated to the comfort and exclusivity of the Holiday Inn in Playa del Carmen away from the hordes of Americans (who dont speak a word of Spanish and expect to pay in dollars everywhere) and cruise ship passengers
Chichen Itza
Magnificent Mayan ruins. who descend on the resort. Of course, it will be different when we are on our cruise descending on the various Caribbean islands for the day!
The Dominican Republic was our least favourite country of the trip; grubby, seedy towns with fat ex-pats and local prostitutes, dire infrastructure and over inflated prices. We now understand why the tourists retreat to their 5 star all inclusive hotels. However, the beach at Cayo Levantado was beautiful; just what we were hoping for.
We had a fantastic weeks Caribbean cruise with our friends Karen and Nigel, visiting Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten & St Croix before returning to Puerto Rico. The luxury of the food and all the entertaiment on board exceeded our expectations, including ice skating whilst at sea (David wasn't a fan after falling down twice - much to everyone's amusement)! Another highlight was swimming with turtles off the beach in Barbados. We can't wait to get back on board again.
What a great way to complete the first 6 amazing months of travel......
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Gilly
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OMG!!!!!
I WANT A BABY SLOTH!! How cute are those little critters! What a trip eh boys? And now back to the grey UK ... for how long? We flew in yesterday and, as predicted, it was raining. So we started as we mean to go on - wouldn't want to be lulled into a false sense of security with a sunny day now would we!?! We ran the finances below the bottom line with a trip to Fiji before leaving Oz for good - you'd think our credit cards had been doing yoga, they're that flexible! I know you would approve David!! Now it's back to reality and job hunting! Hope we get to see you before you hurtle off somewhere else! Love DnG xxx