Los Gringos - Nick & Talia

The Last Hora

2006-04-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

We took some time out of our hectic scheduals to unwind in a tiny town Huakachina, on an oasis in the middle of 100km2 of dessert. Then it was off to "poor man's Galapagos". As we approached the islands off the coast of Peru, they appeared to be black. Yet as we drew closer the amazing site of millions of birds covering every inch of the rocky formations unfolded before us. Most incredibly and unlikely was the site of penguins! Yet another shoking site tucked away on small beaches of the islands, were hundreds of sea lion lounging and barking loudly or playing in the water. We then made our last stop of the trip off the coast of Venezuela at a group of small sandy keys, Los Roques. This national park holds some of the pretiest beaches in all the world surrounded by crystal clear waters and a huge ammount of coral reef. The sun and fun was breathtakingly beautiful and the perfect end (if there must be one) to our great gringo journey.

Machu Picchu

2006-03-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

We found ourselves on the coldest part of journey, La Paz, Bolivia. We went form sea level and 32C to 4000m and as Talia puts it "f`n cold". Despite enjoying the Bolivian people and culture, our trip was winding down so we crossed the border into Peru to visit Lake Titicaca. A short boat ride from Puno floats an island made completely from reeds. We went out to visit the Uros people who built these islands to escape the Inca empire and now live a unique lifestyle. Their houses, boats and everything including the groud itself is made from the reeds of Lake Titicaca. Next it was up the road to Peru`s historic and touristic centre, Cuzco. It is home to the most famous of all Inca ruins, Machu Picchu and is the most visited spot in South America. As we travelled through the Sacred Valley from Cuzco to Machu Picchu, the mountains were scattered with remnants of the Inca civillization. At 5:30 am we accended through the clouds, arriving at Machu Picchu with only a handful of others to have this mystic place to ourselves. We began to tour the ruins through the mist, only seeing what lay directly infront of us. As the morning mist lifted, the beauty and majesty of the ancient city unfolded before our eyes. The city is perched high up between dramatic green peaks towering over plunging valleys to a river flowing almost completely around the site hundreds of metres below. Looking down upon the city and its surrounding beauty, it was obvious why the Incas chose this secluded and wonderous site.
Adios amigos

(more pictures to come)

Bye, Bye Brazil

2006-03-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Carnival ended and we went is search of sleep. Little did we know that even in the little beach towns the celebrations continued long after the festival officially ended and sleep is not to be had. We stayed in the town of Praia de Forte where there is a major sea turtle conservation project. We visited the turtle station and saw every species of sea turtle, including babies with shells the size of a quarter to turtles a monsterous 2 metres long. They were weird, clumsy, prehistoric and cute. After, it was off to the "ciudade marvalloso", Rio. Rio de Jeneiro is on the Atlantic ocean with tropical islands in the distance. It has wide, white sand beaches and is backed by a huge lush forest, green hills and mountains. Next to Vancouver, it really is the most beautiful city in the world. We soaked up the city scene and people watched by strolling the famous Copacabana and Ipanima beaches, were we stumbled upon a fashion show on the beach with a live samba percussion band. There is just no getting away from the music in Brazil. We also went up the largest mountain in Rio to see the famous "Christ the Redeemer" who watches over the city from high above. As we got to the top, clouds began to roll in and completely engulf the giant statue. We stood directly infront of it without being able to see it. The experience turned magical as the clouds parted for a few seconds and we gasped as Jesus appeared to float out of the clouds as if coming down from heaven. This was the end of an amazing month and-a-half in Brazil. The weather so good, the people so nice and the culture and music so rich.

Tchau for now.

Carnival

2006-02-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

We continued to bum the beach, visiting Porto de Gahinhas where we swam out to the reef and over a field of SEA URCHINS, to snorkel in jade coloured tide pools teaming with fish (Talia was brave to go but vowed ´never again´). Next it was off to Praia de Frances for a literal crash course in surfing. With only a couple hours, no instruction, incorect boards for learning and a lack of athletisism, most of the waves we caught were on our bellies. We did manage to come close to standing a few times and the thrill left us wanting more while the bruises left us in pain, so we headed down the coast to Salvador and Carnival!
We arrived the day before the giant festival began and the found an apartment close to the action. The city was ready for action with capoeira demonstrations, decorations, percussion parades and an air of excitment everywhere you looked. The first night of Carnival was magical. We found ourselves invited on top of a bloco, an 18 wheeler truck dressed up as a moving stage that rolled through the streets of Salvador with hords of people dancing infront, behind, beside and hanging out of their apartments cheering us along. In a crowd of millions, we were among the fortunate few to experience Carnival as a part of the show, complete with band T-shirts. We partied and rocked with our Reggae band for hours. We provided the dancing and waiving to the onlookers fo the parade root, while the band provided the beer etc. and the warning when to duck as we passed under telephone wires and street lamps. The parade root round trip that would take an hour to walk on a normal day, took us 5hrs on the bloco and as the sun came up we dismounted the truck a few blocks from our apartment. AWESOME!!!
For night 2 of Carnival, we were "popcorn" in the masses. We entered the parade and found ourselves in a feverish intense pandamonium. It took only minutes for the police to pick us out of the crowd and drag us out. They explained to us that we were in the wrong part of town for a foreigner and guided us to a taxi bound for Barra, where tourist were more welcome. In Barra which looked more like the pictures we had seen than the menacing and dangerous Capo Grande, we walked against the grain of the parade, seeing all the blocos with their different musics and costumes. The energy was palatable, and before long we were bouncing through the parade to samba beats, singing and waiving our hands. Againg we returned home a sunrise with filthy feet and another unforgetable experience under our belts. The days inbetween the long nights were just as exciting as the streets were filled with small samba groups parading through the smaller streets. Everywhere you looked was music and costumes and fun. Mostly Brazilians young and old and a few tourists gathered in the streets to sing and dance. Everytime you felt exhausted, the energy of the festival picked you back up to dance some more. Viva Brazil!

Flipping for Brazil

2006-02-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

From Manaus we made a quick stop in Belem, at the mouthof the Amazon, and Sao Luis, known for it´s tile facades on many of the historical buildings. Feeling a little beach deprived we booked it to the coast for some beautiful Brazillian beaches. Weheaded straight to Praia de Pipa, a posh little beach town with beachy bays filled with gold sparkly sand, all kinds of blue surf, andbacked by huge cliffs, sand dunes and Atlantic rainforest. We took our first dip in the Atlantic ocean and soaked up the hot Brazillian sun for days. We climbed over rocks to explore every beach around, as well as an ecological park on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. As we strolled through the park we came to a beautiful lookout point. We were thrilled to see tons of sea turtles in the rocky ocean below taking a quick breather. We could see them perfectly from the enormous cliff through the clear waters as they surfaced and paddled their white flippers and bums back down. We continued on and were amazed to see marmosets jumping through the trees above. We had spent 3 days in the jungle hoping to see these adorable creatures not seeing a single one and now just off the beach the trees were full of them. Only as big as your foot with a long striped tail these curious monkeys kept our attention jumping quickly through the branches all around us. Nick even gave a couple of them a drink of water from the cap of his water bottle. It was so cute to see their entire faces plunged into the bottle cap.

One trip to the beach proved to be especially rewarding when as we had just chosen the perfect place to jump into the ocean a pod of dolphins appeared before us. We dove right in with them and watched as they jumped, flipped and spun on their backs in front of us. We swam within a few feet of these beauties and were able to see them up close and watch their faces as they caught fish. Exhausted fomr trying to follow the dolphins we swam back to shore and watched from there. It was an exciting beginning to our coastal tour of Brazil!

Jungle Boogie

2006-02-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

Our long, long journey from the coast of Venezuela down to Brazil brought us through one of the world´s great landscapes. We lucked out and caught a ride with a tour guide through the Grand Sabana, home to the unique Tepuis, huge flat-topped mountains with endemic flora and which sometimes giveway to giant waterfalls, such as Angel Falls the world´s highest. Our driver was nice enough to stop along the way for us to see some of these beautiful falls that seemed to drop from out of nowhere.

Our crossing into Brazil proved to be infinitely harder as our Portuguese amounts to virtually nada. We found ourselves stranded at the border with no promise of a bus to come. We thanked the Brazillian Gods for sending saints in the form of young socialists. The University students returning from a forum on social justice swooped us up and carried us safely the 18 hours to Manaus and in the name of socialism they would not accept a cent. Some of our new socailist friends took it upon themselves to become our personal tour guides. They took us out for an Amazonian style breakfast of tapioca pancakes and throughout the day had us try a variety of local fruit juices (some good, some... interesting). Right away the Brazillian spirit was apparent and we felt more welcome in Manaus then most other places. We enjoyed Manaus and took in 2 free concerts at the Parisian style opera house where the decour was matched by the magnificent sound.

We took off from the modern world and escaped into the Amazon jungle. By boat we explored the channles of the Amazon river where we were met by our guide who took us deeper into the ungle to set up camp for the night. This was not car camping! Armed with only machetes we cut trees into a small structure, a table, candle holders, and a fire and spit. We slept in hammocks under the stars surrounded by the wild of the Amazon. We awoke the next morning, on Nick´s B-day in the jungle, to the loud, eerie sounds of Uacari monkeys sadly just out of sight. Our expectations for more monkey madness were dissapointingly not met as we had only 1 very brief encounter with brown capuchins :(. We did have an amazing day though. We explored the jungle as our guide explained the various uses of the vegetation. We made rubber from the milk of a rubber tree, ate bark which prevents malaria, enjoyed fresh Brazil nuts from the tree, met the vicks plant (as in Vick´s vapour rub), and learned about plants and trees that cure bronchitis, diabetes, arthritis, "traveller´s stomach" (Talia had first hand experience that this actually works), and much more.

After lunch we set out by boat for some Pirahna fishing for dinner. Luck was with us as both grey and pink dolphins played in the water in front of our boat as we fished. After a hard day of fishing, well just over an hour, we through caution to the wind and took a dip in the rejuvinating waters of the Amazon river while dolphins surfaced around us. Nightime brought with it discovery channel style alligator catching. We crept up in boats shining flashlights in the tall grass in search of the reflection of little eys staring back at us. Our local guide plunged his hand into the water bringing up little alligators (so cute). We also visited some families living along the river to learn about how they survive making use of their surrounding environment. Our time in the jungle was short and despite our love for the Amazon we had to head back to the city.

Tchau for now.

(Pictures to come - more computer problems)

I saw a fish this big

2006-01-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

We got to a tiny highway town(Tucacas) to take our boat tour through Parque National Morrocoy. Morrocoy is a stretch of cayes and islets running about 30kms along the coast of the Caribbean. As we approached our first park destination, the sky filled with large birds of prey, pelicans and numerous others above the mangrove forests. With the trees and sky full of such large birds of all sorts, it seemed as though we had entered a prehistoric land. After a short stay, the boat wound through the mangrove to find us a secluded beach that seemed to appear in the forest out of nowhere. We ate and drank coconut from the trees and snokeled the coral before our next destination was scheduled. This next stop was one of the most picturesque beaches we´ve seen to date. Huge turquoise waves splashed onto the white sand that lined palm trees to our right and junglelous cliffs to our left. The stay there was short but memorable. We were torn form away after a quick swim for our final destination. As the boat hummed along the water, the jungle and mountains of the mainland were in breathtaking view to one side while the beaches of the cayes laid tranquily on the other. Our final arrival was at the largest islet in the park which housed both sheltered turquoise waters and wavier dark blue waters on each side. We laid on the beach, swam and had some fantastic snokeling before the sunset put an end to our magical tour. The weather was anything but cooperative, as rain fell in small bursts a few times and the clouds never fully parted. One could only imaging the glory of this place in blue sky and sunshine. Nevertheless, Morrocoy proved an amazing beauty that captivated us.
Adios for now!

Need Agua!

2006-01-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

The border crossing from Colombia to Venezuela turned out easier than we imagined, thanks in part to a small bribe the entire bus put together to speed up the process. Our firststop was in Corro, Venezuela's first capital before Caracas and now a colnial town home to many of Venezuela's oldest religious artifacts. We visited Venezuela's oldest church as well as it's oldest synagogue, which had floors of sand. We also syumbled upon a free concert one night of what was supposedly Venezuela's best orchestra. Coro lies just off the Peninsula de Paraguana, which holds a number of different unique ecosystems. We took a landrover out of the city and after just 5 minutes we were struck by the immeditae change from shrubbery total desert. We parked, took off our shoes and began playing in the enormous sandbox. Pillowy soft sand spread for miles in every direction. Hills and valleys of sand dunes were exhausting to climb with the sun beaming down on us. We felt as though we were suddenly in the middle of the Sahara.

As we took off from the dunes we came across a lagun with a pink haze looming near the shore. As we got closer we could see that it was a group of flamingos feeding on shrimp. From desert we drove through arrid mountains filled with cacti as we headed for a hike in the nearby rainforest. The province of Falcon, Venezuela is one of the 3 regions where the amazing red Cardinal is found and luckily we spotted a few. The rainforest was followed by a dip in the rough waters of the beach at the very tip of the Penninsula, where in the distance Aruba could be seen. For such a small Penninsula it held an amazing amount of diversity.
Hasta luego!

No Snow in Colombia

2006-01-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

We took off from one beach to had to another, a small fishing village tucked away in a bay just outside of one of the major cities on the coast. The village of Taganga is small and quant with beautiful beaches around every corner and surrounded by semi-arrid mountains. An easy climb up the mountains gave the perfect persepctive to pinpoint a small beach all to our own. The heat blistered so intensely on the rocky mountains that the smell of sauna filled the air. Lizards and snakes scurried out of our way as we made our way down to the water to escape the heat. We swam in the sea for as long as possible before the sun took its tole on us and it was time to leave.

Our next adventure began with jumping on the back of a pickup truck and hanging on for our dear lives with 20 others as we made our way up into the jungleous mountains for a few days to escape the sun and take in some new scenery. There was not much to do in the tiny town of Minca so that´s exactly what we did. The mountain looked back on a beautiful view of the city of Santa Mart miles away on the coast, which is where we headed to next before it was time to bid adios to this great country. Colombia was an unscheduled stop in our journey that we are definitely glad we made.

Los Gringos Part Dos

2006-01-15T09:15:00.000-08:00

We began phase two of our adventure with a flight over the turquoise waters and remote islands of the Caribbean. Our first stop in South America was the sun drenched coast of Columbia. We landed in Cartagena during the busiest week of the year. Hotels were booked, streets were filled and prices doubled. Every mainland Colombian seemed to be vacationing in Cartagena and it was a change to feel like some of the only white tourists around. We stayed in an apartment inside the old town which is completely surrounded by a giant protective wall built to keep out pirate attacks. We walked the narrow European style streets with balconies overhanging courtyards filled with people dining and drinking.

The beaches surrounding the city were packed full of people young and old, so to get away from the crowds we took a boat ride 45 minutes out of the city to Playa Blanca and before our eyes the sand turned to gold and the water turned a heavenly blue. We stayed and played on the endless stretches of white sandy beaches for a few days before heading off to our next beach destination.

Adios, muchachos!

Panamania

2006-01-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Being so close to the border we decided to dip into Panama and visit the small islands in the Caribbean, Bocas del Toro. The route to Bocas was by boat through a network of narrow canals surrounded by lush, bird-filled greenery. We arrived the night before New Years and Bocas was rockin'! We ran into friends we had met along the way in various countries left, right and center. Bocas was the place to be and we knew everyone. We brougth in the New Year celebrating in the Parque Central with our friends while the locals lit an endless supply on deafning firecrackers. Then with our international crew we snuck in by boat to the hot bar in town, Wreck´s Deck. The bar´s patio was in a circle around a small shipwreck in the sea, lit up like an aquarium to wathch as colourful fish swam through. As the night progressed and drinks were had, partiers were both willingly and not one by one joining the fish. A few days of recovery later we headed off to Panama City in a car full of Americans.

As we crossed the bridge over the Panama Canal we came across a city like no other we´d seen in Central America, with a skyline of modern skyscrapers surrounded by water and palm trees. Panama City seemed cool, but our eagerness to start the next phase of our trip, not to mention that we just hadn´t had enough beach time, sent us on the first flight out to the Caribbean coast of Colombia and the beginning of our South American adventure!
Stay tuned...

Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys!

2005-12-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

Tearing ourselves away from Montezuma was hard (like getting out of a hammock), but had to be done. We set off for Manuel Antonio, a nature reserve further south along the Pacific. San Ginobli, as Nick calls it, is famous for its postcard beautiful beaches and wildlife. Ofcourse as we set foot into the park our camera broke! It's a shame, we would've had some our best blog pictures yet. We tiptoed past a 3 and a half foot iguana and the 3 of us sunbathed together atop a lookout over the park and Pacific ocean. We saw many Sloths high in the tree tops and even had the rare experience of watching a 3-toed sloth make its way down the tree to the jungle floor for its weekly bathroom break (#2). The whole thing took a long time. At one point as we were strolling through the lush jungle the trees around us began to russle and one by one, from the canopy and the ground, we were surrounded by White-faced Capuchins. There were monkeys everywhere, leaping over our heads, swinging on branches and vines around us and crossing in front of us on the ground. After many minutes of watching them in awe, we were taken back to see the dominant male and his buddy leap towards us within a few feet, hissing and showing his fangs and looking a lot bigger than we remembered. Needless to say, we ran for our lives!!! But man the pictures would've been great!
After a quick stop in San Jose (to deal with the camera), we headed to the Caribbean coast, our last stop in Costa Rica. Cahuita itself is a funny little town, but is home to a beautiful National park lining miles of white sand beaches. We took most of the day to walk the jungle trail which was scattered with secluded, scenic swimming spots, and ofcourse a healthy dose of monkey watching. The trees were literally filled with Capuchin and Howler monkeys. We don't have many beach shots because our entire memory card is full of monkey shots!

Adios for now, Pura Vida!!! and Happy New Years.

Costa Rican Christmas/Channuka Vacation

2005-12-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

First off, to anyone following our blog comments, we're innocent! There was no shoebox full of money only a joker from Vermont with a bad sense of humour.

Our last stop in Nicaragua was a short stay in San Juan del Sur, a little town on the Pacific coast. Our plans to take up surfing were put aside in favor of a free ride to Costa Rica where our knees were not crushed into child sized seats of old American school buses and good music at a bearable volume. We then took a ferry across to the Peninsula de Nicoya where we met up with our friends Becky and Harris in Montezuma. Montezuma is a cute little town with endless stretches of beautiful beaches where the shoreline meets lush jungle. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach and took advantage of the hammocks and other luxuries of our friends fancier hotel. Just a 20 minute walk along a river from our hotel were 3 connected waterfalls. The first was a spectacular 30 meter cascade into a beautiful pool perfect for swimming. It was an adventerous climb to the next 2 falls, but well worth it for the rope swing and many ledges to dive from.

One beautiful sunny day we decided to take a 30 minute walk along the beach to playa grande, the most beautiful and secluded of Montezumas beaches. After a wonderful afternoon of frolicking, swimming, and playing in the waves we began to make our way back. However, somehow Talia stepped on a sea urchin!! Nick went searching for help and found 2 very nice guys that carried Talia into town where we were rushed to the hospital. I have now felt the most excrutiating pain that exists in this world, I have to say thank God for Morphene! After the incident we decided to stick to swimming in the waterfall, poor us. We both agree that Montezuma is one of our favorite places so far.

More Pictures:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2115416467

Isla de Relaxacione

2005-12-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever ridden a mechanical bull?
Our boat ride over to Isla de Ometepe made our butts soar and our stomachs moan. We actually were thrown out of our seats many times as we rocked across Lago Nicaragua. The Isle de Ometepe is made up of two volcanoes joined after an eruption created and isthmus of lava connecting the two. Our first stop on the island was on Playa Venecia where we swam in the lake at sunset until the thought of the world's only fresh water sharks swimming with us brought us to the shore. We travelled around the island from beach to beach watching monkeys hanging by their tails feeding in the trees right out the bus window at eye-level. We hiked 1km up the side of the smaller Volcano, Volcan Madera, where we stayed in a farm house on a working coffee plantation (Finca Magdalena). The Finca was surrounded by trails through pastures and gardens leading to petroglyphs from 300AD. Our first day we began an assent up the volcano and came accross a few Howlers passing overhead. We stopped to observe and noticed more were on their way. Nick decided to get a closer look and, like a monkey himself, climbed up a tree. As he looked up the Holwers began to crowd around the very tree that he was in. Several families, including 3 babies (so cute!), were all inspecting this new monkey while he in turn inspected them. All in all, about 15 Howlers and 1 homosapien hung out in one tree for a good hour. Our most incredible monkey encounter yet!

Our final stay on the island was at the family run, Hostel Monkey Island. We relaxed in hammocks, swam in the lake, and made a failed attempt at paddling in the family canoe (actually a small hollowed out log) across to Monkey Island. Instead we played with our new friend Kiko. This little 1 year old White-faced Capuchin was a bundle of fun. It cuddled, pick-pocketed and explored our bodies. A monkey actually picked Nick´s nose and ate it!! We then took the 2 1/2 hour bus ride back around the 30kms of rocky, muddy, potholed roads (more butt pain) back to the dock and headed off the island exhausted from so much relaxing.
Adios!

More Pics:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2115925591

Monkey Hut

2005-12-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

After only a short stay in Honduras, we made our way to Nicaragua. We arrived at our hotel in Granada to find that it was quite luxurious for our normal backpacking standards. There is a beautiful little pool, free internet, movies, tea and coffee and rooms surrounding a plant-filled courtyard with hammocks, all for only $9 each, which is expensive by Central American standards. So, we have been truly enjoying the life for a few days. Yesterday we took a trip to the nearby Laguna de Apoyo. It is an old volcano crater filled with warm water and the surrounding rim is full of lush jungle. We spent the day swimming, innertubing, kayaking, and just relaxing in the tranquility. We woke up with the sun and took a walk down the road in search of Howler monkeys. Nick has perfected his howl and communicated enough with his fellow monkeys so that we could follow their howel to find them. Just off the side of the road was a group of Mantled Howler monkeys (with brown backs). We bushwacked our way towards them and found ourselves just below their tree in time for their morning calls.
As can be seen our time in Nicaraugua has been quite strenuous so far, so we are heading towards Isla de Ometepe on Lago de Nicaragua for a little relaxation.
Adios

Unda Da Sea

2005-12-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

We landed on the isle of Utila, Honduras were the island's biggest lie is "I'm leaving tommorow". We said this ourselves about 9 times. Utila has some of the best food we've eaten ever and we became regulars at few backyard BBQs. Mmmmm Dave's BBQued jerk chicken!!!! The main attraction to Utila is it's the least expensive place on earth to explore the underwater world, so Talia confronted her fear of the ocean, and that's exactly what we did. You can now add another credential to our names. We are now officially "Scuba Nick" and "Scuba Talia". We embarked on a 5 day Scuba certification course that took us more than 18 meters deep into the ocean. There's a whole new world under the sea. We explored mountains of coral reef, filled with strange plants and colourful fish. We saw Angelfish, Lobsters, Eels, Discoballfish (unofficial name- black fish covered in blue dots radiating light), and most amazingly Stoplight Parrotfish. If you can imagine the most colourful parrot and add fins and gills you get these vibrant 2 foot long marine beauties that spend all day chomping on coral. One even greeted Talia by staring her in the face, a few feet away, and mouthed the words "Hello Talia". It was an incredible experience-so peaceful, so wonderous and so freeing to breathe underwater and become just another fish. We got off the boat each day with grins on our faces and singing "Unda da Sea". It really is better down where it's wetter!!!

Good Vibes Mon

2005-11-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

After 3 buses, 2 taxis, a boarder crossing and a boat ride we land on the island of Caye Caulker, Belize. Did we mention that we slept through our stop on our overnight bus and turned our 14hr trek into a 20hr marathon. It was all worth it. Belize is a chilled out, reggae filled land on the beautiful Caribbean Sea. The island we were on was so small you could throw a baseball from the ocean on one side of the island and land it in the ocean on the other side. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world and the though of snorkling on the reef with fish of every variety, sea cows and sharks (small ones, "armless") was thrilling. What we didn´t know was that we were followed to Belize by a tropical storm. The threat of it turning into a hurricane was real and so snorkling will have to wait until Honduras. Our stay was short, the island was already split in two from a previous hurricane so our thoughts were to head inland. We loved the slow pace of the island and even in the rain in was hot! The rastas showed us good time on the streets and in cool-ass reggae bars. But alas we HAD to leave. It was off to Guatemala and the legendary Tikal.

Tikal was the most magical of all the Mayan ruins we´ve seen yet. Deep, deep in the jungle, temples shot out of the canopy. We climbed up past the tree tops on ancient stone steps (and some half assed wooden ones) and ended up looking over a vast jungle and at the same time face to face with spider and howler monkeys feeding in the tree tops. At some points we were no more than 10 feet away from the alpha male of the howler clan. There is no way to really express the magesty of this place. We hope the pictures will do it some justice. For now we are taking a rest from the furious travels in Antigua, Guatemala. We will take some much needed Spanish lessons and live with a Guatemalan family. Adios Amigos!

For some more pictures click this link:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2116230518

From coast to coast

2005-11-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

In need of a tan, the temptation to make the long journey to the beaches of the Pacific got the best of us. After 10 hours of the windiest, scariest, make-you-sick mountain roads through beautiful coutnryside, we landed in surfer's heaven. Peurto Escondido, on the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico City, is a stretch of beach with international surfing waves anda few hostels, restaurants, surf shops, and lots of surfer dudes, along one sandy road. All we did was play in the waves all day, or they played us. We'll surf when the waves aren't 10 feet tall!

Somehow we tore ourselves away from the beach bum lifestyle that we were told we'd never leave, maybe our sunburns played a part in that. We stayed a day ina quaint colinial town in the mountains, San Cristobal de las Casas. We got lost in a maze of colors, smells, and sites of the Sunday market. Chickens, dead, alive or cooked anyway you like, fruit, clothing, barbequed armidillo, music, and anything you could ever want surrounded you through short, narrow passageways stuffed with people shopping and hollering in Spanish as far as the eye could see.

We took off from there for the jungle and the ruins of Palenque. The true experience of Palenque began when we visited the Mayan ruins. We arrived shortly after dawn as the gates opened and the surrounding jungle was filled with the roar of Holwer Monkeys, yes roar like a lion! The intense howls, lush jungle and incredible ruins gave it all a very mystical feeling. The next day in Palenque was a day to play and bask in the beauty that surrounded us. Our first stop of the day was the mighty waterfall knwon as Miso-hal, you may remember this from such films as Predator. Next was Agua Clara, not so clara but nice all the same, and then on to Agua Azul. We arrived and were awe-striken to find a series of turquoise cascades extending endlessly from a huge waterfall up into the jungle mountains. By mid-day the heat was incredible and we plunged into the beautiful pools between the falls. We frolicked under the cascading waterfalls for hours and picnicked by the shore until alas, we had to leave for it was on to Belize!
Adios for now!!

Check out some more pictures:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/id=2117251335 And more: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2116232478

We Got Ruined

2005-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

We left the beautiful San Miguel and our new friends Angelo and Virginia for the hustle bustle of Mexico City. 30 million people can´t be wrong but with the streets too insane for our membranes to handle, we decided to check out some of the sights in the Centro Historico (the Palacio Nacional, filled with murals by the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and the Catedral Metropolitina). Enormous, colourful and detailed murals filled every wall of the palace and told stories of triumph, defeat and old traditions, while the Cathedral was an awe inspiring monument of religious dedication. Each were humbling experiences. We then jumped on the metro, were tsunamis of people pushed you on and off the train. If you weren´t a good crowd surfer, you were sure to miss your stop.
After several metros and a bus were people would try to sell you anything from food to music to flashlights to rejuvinating cream, we ended up at the Teotihuacan pyramids. We were dropped off just outside the ancient city. What remains of Mexico´s largest ancient city, an empire that spanned from the 1st C A.D. until its decline 700 years later, is a 3km stretch of ruins and pyramids along the main road, La Calzada de los Muertos, (the avenue of the dead). The most spectacular of the ruins was the pyramid del sol, the world´s 3rd largest pyramid. We made the long climb to the top and looked out onto the valley of the ancient city. We couldn´t get over the amazing amount of work, effort and time it took to create this incredible feat. We explored through the ruins for about 4hrs (4hrs of Nick singing the Indiana Jones theme) and headed back to the city for a well deserved Corona Gigante before heading out the next morning for Oaxaca and Palenque. (pictures are coming as soon as we figure it out in spanish) Adios for now.

To check out some more pictures click on the link below:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2117450702

The Jewel Of The Mexican Heartland

2005-11-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

We arrived at our first destination, an adorable old colonial town called, San Miguel de Allende. We happened upon this small town for a week full of festivities. With the Dia de Muertos (day of the dead), Halloween, All Saints day (not the female singing sensations), and the weekend combined, there has been non-stop music, markets and an array of beautiful flower made altars celebrating the deceased. Tequilla, cigars and food are laid beside pictures of loved ones in a celebration to remember them. The atmosphere of celebration has spilled into streets and our days are filled mostly by wandering and enjoying the beauty of this old city. Especially relaxing is the people watching in the centre gardens (the jardin) which is overlooked by an enormous Baroque Cathedral which is inturn surrounded by palm trees - quite a sight. Today was a luxurious trip to la Gruta, a natural hotspring just oustside of town. Connecting pools of thermal water lead to a tunnel form where you swim into a hottub like cave. The cave was lit only by beams of sunlight through cracks in the ceiling. I felt like Indiana Jones, it was cool!!! Next is Mexico City where hopefully our limited but expanding Spanish will get us by in the big city.
Adios for Now

The Storm Before the Calm

2005-10-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a crazy couple of days and, while we may not be ready or organized, we're leaving. We are heading to Mexico City bright and early and from there......... the rest is to be determined.
Thanks to everyone, friends and family, for all your good wishes, love and support.
Enjoy the winter suckers!!!!!