Although I knew that Hurricane Season officially started on June 1st, I did not think it would begin with such punctuality and force. As soon as it hits June, these rains and storms unleash their annual pounding of central america without hesitation. We noticed on the weather channel that Hurricane Alma recently started up in Nicaragua and we would be flying over the region the next day. Yowza! Fortunately, the worst part of this weather system pushed out of our direct flight path and we had no problems. We landed in San Jose Costa Rica and quickly made our way to Volcan Arenal. This volcano has come highly recommended from a number of sources. It is apparently the most active of all volcanoes in the Americas. One neat way to enjoy this Lava Party is to ... read more

Hello friends, This edition of the blog is going to cover quite a bit of time and locations. We tackled the Yucatan peninsula and Belize over the last 10 days or so. We have done alot! AFter our caves and volcanoes in Guatamala, Dave and I did an epic 16 hour day of bus rides to arrive in the deeply important city of Cancun. We passed through many small villages and beautiful jungles. It was hard to appreciate these bus vistas, however, as our bodies were perpetually covered in boiling sweat. Normally bus passengers pass the time by chatting to each other about their home countries and past travels. The energy required to hold these types of conversations proved to be too much for anyone on the bus. We spent the 16 hours mostly nursing our ... read more

Holey Moley...the adventure never ends! We begin our time in Guatamala by arriving in the strangely clean and comfortable city of Antigua. This is in stark contrast to the raw and difficult landscape that lays outside of the city. Cobble stone streets, brightly painted buildings, interesting decaying churches and large fountain filled town squares will be our jumping off point to several nearby attractions. Our first choice is the Pacaya Volcano. While climbing a volcano does sound instantly intriguing, we were all a bit skeptical. Most of us had experienced volcano hikes in the past that resulted in a hohum viewing of thick clouds around the top of a distant mountain. Not exactly the thrill we had in mind. But for only 7 bucks, we were willing to give it another shot. On the drive out ... read more

Buenas! I am titalated that you guys are enjoying our journey. Although I am falling a bit behind with these posts, I will not be deterred (I am typing this one on my iphone!). It feels a little strange hunting down computers to reconnect with the digital world when I am surrounded by such non-digitalness. I have a self-imposed conflict about it actually. Part of me says,¨swoop into analog!¨ and experience every moment without distraction. But a seemingly stronger voice yanks me back to the computer to spew out my thoughts and experiences. I really think it helps digest and process life when you are forced to explain it. Otherwise lovely moments and profound life lessons can evaporate without really sucking all the goodness out of them. Annnnnyway, After Corcovado, we took a string of ridiculous ... read more

Ahoy friends! I am filled with joy that you are reading my little blog! Last night was a ¨getting to know each other¨ night. We went to a local bar and grill that attempted to approximate a typical USA sports bar. It tasted good but missed on some of the details...like they forgot to fry my country fried steak! (it was grilled instead). We had our first taste of Imperial (Costa Rica´s beer) and played a rousing game of A$$hole. Today was a stupendous day. We took a short bus ride to the Rio Pacuare. It was a class III and IV rapids. These were big enough to drench us in water pretty frequenty but not so big as to require actual skill. The real reason why people love this river is the scenary. It was ... read more