After 2 years, the covid pandemic was slowing down. Here in Canada, with the start of school year, and the weather getting colder, cases are on the rise. Good news is that the severity of cases is rarely severe, especially if vaccinated. We then, decided to travel abroad, but not too far at this point, avoiding connection flights. From where I live, I checked the direct flights. Decision was made to return to Costa Rica, my little paradise, and concentrate on South Pacific Coast, a section of the country I visited very briefly, 16 years ago. I especially wanted to visit Osa peninsula and Corcovado national park. In this park, many rarer animals, can be seen. I stayed 6 days on Osa peninsula and wasn't deceived, but more on that later. :-) Next stops, would be ... read more

We continued North-East to reach one of my highlight: Forillon National park. It's a peninsula at the end of the Gaspesian peninsula. A mix of ocean, forest, cold streams and beautiful landscapes. The most beautiful spot in the park is for me, the Bon-Ami Cape. It's dramatic because of its topography and at the same time beautiful for its blue and green ocean waters. The park has a wide range of hiking trails ranging from very easy and interpreted, to the rough and long with only limited shelters. Park have also many beaches whether with sand or pebbles. One sector harbors old historic buildings from 19th century showing small village life of that era. Other sector contains a distinctive taiga section, normally only see far in the North. Roads are well maintained. A good place for ... read more

Trip continues. We stopped at Grand Metis to visit the Redford Gardens, (Jardins de Metis). This used to be the summer home of a very rich English family. It's now a botanical garden. What's remarkable about this place is that the gardens are integrated into the surrounding nature, (forest, stream, plains), instead of supplanting it like some other European French gardens for instance. This is a very beautiful place, and you can easily spend a day there. My favorite gardens there were the entrance garden, the stream garden and the alley of peonies. Considering the cool climate, it's remarkable to see the variety of plants. We then continue on the road, North-East direction to follow the sea road. The estuary widens more and more and at Ste-Anne des Monts, it's about 70km wide, making it really ... read more

For the last 3 years, we were supposed to go to Africa. It was the continent I have never been to and many family types of unique animals live there, that i have never seen in the wild. In end of 2019 and start of 2020, my wife hurt her foot bad, so we decided to go to a closer place instead. We went to Nicaragua. We are very familiar with central america as we went there many times before. Then pandemic started. No place out of country to go for 2 years. Finally start of this year, situation improved with COVID. Sadly, I went to hospital for some chest pain, and even if it wasn't serious in the end, my health insurance blocked me for 3 months. Then my wife went to hospital too a ... read more

We continued then South to Bay of Fundy, the place in world where the tides are the highest. First attraction there, is Hopewell Cape, a place where you can witness these tides, and the beautiful effect of erosion. Some of the structures are called 'flower pots' because of a few trees on top of very high slim rock pillars. This is a must in you come in the region and is really impressive. You need to check the tides schedule before you come to make sure to be able to walk on the beach. But do stay as well as high tide, to see the difference in water levels, as well as the speed of rising tides. Next stop was Fundy national park, a beautiful mix of forest, cliffs, sea, lots of trails and wildlife. It's ... read more