We are enjoying the peace of our home! Last night was our typical relaxing evening - admiring the view, playing games, watching a movie snuggled up in warm clothes. It can become very chilly in the evenings. We are high up the mountains - almost in a cloud forest at times. When the sun starts to set, the temperatures fall into the 50s. sometimes even chilier. To this day, I still wonder how we ended up with a home so far up a mountain. We bought the house about four or five years ago and did so in record time. Two weeks prior to visiting Costa Rica, Steve read an article in the Houston Chronicle about real estate in Costa Rica. He said, "Heather, why don't you go online and learn more." That's all it took! ... read more

Our ride across the main land of Honduras to Roatan via the Galaxy Wave was a turning point in our adventure. We are back to what would be considered the "typical traditional vacation." Beaches, swimming, restaurants, shops - many other tourists and a selection of day tours. I won't go into too much detail about this leg of the trip because it's just that - a normal vacation (pictures posted in next blog). On the other hand, I will reflect and provide more details about the cities as it seems to have drummed up a lot of inquiries from concerned friends, family members. Now that you know we are back to normalcy and safe - here goes. Along the way, we enjoyed some touristy destinations such as Granada and San Juan Del Sur and then stopped ... read more

Our evening in Managua was serene. After divulging in a nice typical style dinner on a patio overlooking the barrio, we ventured across the street to our hotel, locked the gate and felt safe behind our barbed wire for a decent half night sleep At about 9pm the barrio came to life. We could hear music, people hollering, dogs barking, clanking and roaring sounds. We could only imagine what was going on outside our gates but felt very secure in our room. Why all the worry about crime? Yes, if you are walking outside anywhere at the wrong time, bad things can happen. Yes, if we were walking around this neighborhood at that time sporting expensive items, bags - we may be robbed. All in all, we felt safe but intensely aware of our surroundings. Fortunately, ... read more

Today, we rented mountain bikes and trekked our way around the Maderas Volcano, exploring the really remote areas and towns. No cars, no electricity in most homes and the people travel via horseback. Chickens and wild pigs run the terrain and we came face to face with many cattle and bulls. The ride was a tough one. We rode from Santa Domingo almost half way around the volcano to a town called El Corozal. No paved road after Santa Cruz and the deeper we got into the volcano area the tougher the terrain, much of which was uphill and very rocky. Two hours into it, we had to decide whether or not we could move forward and make it all the way around. We didn't have a map to guide us; it was so remote we ... read more

Life became more adventurous yesterday. To get to San Juan Del Sur (a port, beach town on the Pacific Ocean), we chose to take a bus via Rivas and a new bus into San Juan Del Sur. We left Granada via a walk through the chaotic market to get to the bus station. Upon arriving, we were pulled and yanked by dozens of people saying, "Rivas." They all knew our destination as it seems many backpackers travel this route. Thankfully, the chicken bus to Rivas was fairly empty when we arrived so we were able to keep our packs with us inside of the bus as opposed to on top of it. Vendors came on the bus to sell various food and beverage items. The bus quickly filled up with locals and a few other backpackers. ... read more