Blogs from Central America Caribbean - page 1921

I know, I know, this is really really late in coming out (blame the publisher!).... But here it is (better late than never I say). Tikal Okay, so to get to Tikal, (one of the largest Mayan sites) I used a small town called Flores as a base.... this was a pretty small town (about 200km from the GC/Belize border) and arriving with only about $20 USD hoping for a bank was a bad call (it was Sunday and they were all closed or broken) BUGGER! So, I used my trusty supply of travellers cheques (backup cash basically) and managed to get through the next day or so. Anyways, I booked in with the two Aussies and the French guy for the Tikal Sunrise Tour (yeah, up at 5am!) which I nearly missed because I slept ... read more

Neuvo Arenal ECOLodge 9/07/06 Wednesday (P.M.) WOW! This is remote, 3kms up a semi good road, it has its bad spots, but up in the hills, great grounds, landscaped to the max. Reception refreshing, English, and not busy. INTERNET! WiFi! FREE! seems I can use my WiFi for free, $5 for the use of their PCs.... So out with the emails! Sorry folks, but it aint Boulder or Austin! The website: http://www.ecolodgecostarica.com/gallery.html oh, and the waiters don't wear bowties, and the bartender doesn't wear an apron! *****As I write this, the cook is baking ? what a fabulous aroma! Brownies! (mind you, writing the next day).... I am in room 21, standard taxes and breakfast included, so OK price, no worries. Spent the evening logged on, met Rebecca, Tica, @ 30ish, some English, wanted to practice ... read more

With a thunder-like rumble, a spurt of bright orange broke the velvet darkness of the cool night. Mesmerized, oblivious to the pesky mosquitoes, we couldn’t take our eyes off the incredible sight of red-hot rocks being hurled out of the top of the nearby mountain and tumbling and breaking up down the steep slopes. This was Volcano Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world and we were lucky enough to catch it on a clear night. After basking in the luxuriousness of jungle hot-springs during the day, it was the perfect way to spend the evening. Thus we spent a few days of Nana and Pop-pop’s visit. Since I haven’t written for a while, I figured I needed a dramatic beginning. At the end of July, for the last week of the summer ... read more

Mike and I arrived in San Carlos on Thursday of last week and it seems like every day we’re in this area, the more we feel at home. San Carlos is quite a large area. It’s more like a county containing many small towns such as Ciudad Quesada, Muelle, La Fortuna and Santa Rosa. It’s northwest of San Jose in case anyone is looking at a map. On the way to San Carlos, Mike decided we would diverge from the route we knew and see some towns we hadn’t yet visited. Maps of Costa Rica, however, tend to be a bit lacking - as does road signage - and, needless to say, we got a bit lost. We ended up on some bad 4x4 roads. For the first time we found ourselves uttering the words, “We’re ... read more

Having thoroughly brushed up on our Spanish we made our way to our next volunteer project, in Hawaii. Not the American Hawaii, but a very small village on the Pacific coast of Guatemala and one of the main nesting sites for the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. This was of course accompanied by the obligatory super long bus journey but we made all our connections on the magic buses without any hitches so it was a smooth 11 hours. We arrived at the project around midday and were shown round and briefly told what the volunteers did. The majority of the work was going to be at night so we were advised to get a bit of sleep after our travelling, having no problem with being told to sleep we duely obliged and woke up feeling refreshed ... read more