Season's Greetings

Hi All!

We would like to wish everyone lots of love and happiness in the coming year.

Also, sorry for the dissapearance of the SHOUTBOX... Will try and figure out how to get it back on our site so we can keep receiving all your messages!

Also, latest updates are just pictures for now... it's one of my New Year's resolutions to stop slacking on the writing bit.

Love, US.

Cartagena, Colombia

Main Square in El Centro


Cafe del Mar, Cartagena


Typical streets in Cartagena... with horse drawn carriages passing through every now and then


It's just another brick in the wall


Colombian Coffee


Our day in the MUD! Natural mud blub-blubbing up through this strange volcano.

From Panama to Colombia - through the San Blas Islands

Our CAPITAN: doesn't he remind you exactly of Tom Hanks in CASTAWAY having been stranded on a deserted island for 4 years?


David, Valentijn & Jem chillin on the yacht after a healthy breakfast. Ingredients: granola, pineapple, honey and RUM. Method: throw all ingredients in a big bowl and mix till mushy.


Yo no soy marinero!


One of the 365 San Blas Islands

Jem & I helping the local people (only one family lives on this particular island) prepare our dinner. Grating coconut for cocorice and cooking lobster.


The Cast of SURVIVOR: SAN BLAS. Capitan, David, Jem, Shaan, Valentijn, Shota

Panama City

Panama Canal! Panagis (L) who was kind enough to show us around his lovely city and give us a place to stay!

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Haven't had this much fun in the sand since we were 8.


Zapatilla: A pristine deserted beach perfect for skinny dipping!

Costa Rica

Unfortunately, I'm having tonnes of problems uploading... so here are just a select few shots of Costa Rica.


One of the many beaches we discovered around Puerto Viejo on our bikes.
Sunset from Johnny's Place, Puerto Viejo


Jem Napping & Me in my "rash guard" surfer top

Nicaragua

The scenery from the chicken bus from the Honduran-Nicaraguan border to the town of Leon was quite lovely at sunset. Even though there were quite a few kids eyeing all our backpacks, we managed to get off at Leon with all our baggage in tact. Nothing much in Leon, except drinking Flor de Cana (I’ve always hated rum, until my first taste of Flor de Cana with 7-up and lime) at ViaVia with a reunion with Esther and Patrick, and Dave and Nicci. We all decided to travel for the next couple of weeks together.


Us in Leon & Jem on a break

Next was Granada. Although it held quite a few similarities to Antigua, it was no where as charming. Our highlight had to be the 2 days we spent in Lago Apoyo, half hour from Granada. We stayed at Crater’s Edge and spent the entire 2 days swimming in the lake, drinking watermelon juices and I managed to do a lot of writing (for an editor of a magazine that approached me… unfortunately, it’s been 5 days since I sent it in, and still no word.)


Our favourite spots - On the rocking chairs and swinging chairs by the lake (Laguna de Apoyo)


The English Girl reads The Tempest by Shakespeare
The Dutch Girl reads the Dutch version The DaVinci Code and
I read BONO: In the name of love

Longing for the coast again, the 6 of us hopped on a series of trucks, buses, taxis and vans before finally arriving in San Juan del Sur. The 3 days we spent there were pretty uneventful except for a couple of gorgeous sunsets, yummy fresh cheap seafood and lounging on our sarongs by the beach, reading.



At Sunset - San Juan del Sur
Thanks Patrick, for the great candid shot of me and Jem!

Honduras

Getting into Honduras was LEH-CHEH!. Since we were leaving from the little village of Lanquin, we had to take a shuttle headed for Antigua, but get off in the middle of nowhere – in a town called El Rancho. From there, we got herded onto a local bus bound for another middle of nowhere place called Chiquimula. They threw us off in Chiquimula and told us to walk 2 blocks (though the street market) and finally we saw shuttles which the guy said go straight to Copan, Honduras. But of course, we had to change shuttles in the middle of nowhere to another shuttle, which dropped us at the border town of El Florido. We went through immigration finally at 6pm on a Sunday and then were totally ripped off by apparently “the last shuttle left” which was going the 10 km to Copan.

The town of Copan (and our hostel – La Manzana Verde (the Green Apple) was charming, and needing to recover from the long local bus journeys, we decided to rest a day before heading to La Ceiba to catch a ferry to the island of Utila.

As luck would have it, Dave, Nicci and us were all stuck in La Ceiba coz due to bad weather conditions, there were no ferries leaving for (or coming back from) the Bay Islands. DAMMIT JANET!!! On the other side on Utila, were our Dutch friends who were stranded on Utila, unable to return to the mainland. Esther had hurt her shoulder and they finally decided to CHARTER a mini little plane back! Isn’t that the coolest thing ever!?

So with thousands of Limpiras (hey, we thought we were gonna be spending quite a bit on diving in the Bay Islands etc….) we decided to cut our losses and head into Nicaragua through the dangers of Tegucigalpa. So much for Honduras….


Border Crossing: Honduras - Nicaragua

The Last of Guatemala

Due to a glowing recommendation from Duncan, we decided to totally backtrack 7 hours all the way to Lanquin for the supposedly must-see caves and pools of Semuc Champey.

We took a shuttle from the Black Cat Hostel in Antigua and after a grueling journey, reached El Retiro in Lanquin. We were welcomed with such warmth, and the guy at the desk was so excited that we were the first from Singapore. Perched along a turquoise river, the little chalets at El Retiro are charming. We got the last private room on the grounds… which was more like a tree house! With our 50 kilo backpacks, we climbed up a little bamboo ladder up to our hut. Small yet charmingly rustic, I knew I was gonna like it there. The great part about the place is that you don’t pay for anything until you check out.. so we happily charged our room, meals, drinks and tours to the “FISH” room.


El Retiro & Falls at Semuc Champey


El Retiro has such a hippie feel… the food is awesome, the music excellent and we had a blast playing games which range from giant jenga to trivial persuit. The place feels like being part of a big family of travelers. Dinners at the in-house restaurant (filled with hammocks, swings and candles) feels more like a dinner party, and the Quebec Libres (rum, ginger ale and a twist of lime) sure beats the regular rum and cokes (Cuba Libres).

The next morning, we picked up the sandwiches we ordered from the restaurant (packed in a banana leaf and tied with natural raffia!!!) and headed off to Semuc Champey. First was the CAVE. It had to be one of the top 5 adventure experiences of my life. Unlike the caves in Australia, the US or even in many parts of Asia, there were no platforms to walk on, no signs telling you not to touch the stalactites and stalagmites and best of all, no lights. With swimsuits, a candle in hand and a local guide, we had to swim, climb rocks and go through a natural obstacle course of sorts, finding our way through the maze within the cave. I was reminded of “The Goonies” as we took turns clinging onto a rope and swinging through a hard waterfall within the dark cave. The scary part about it is that you have no idea what’s coming up next… all the guide tells you is stuff in Spanish (which you have to decipher) like “ok, now we swim for 2 minutes…” or “ok, climb this rickety bamboo ladder one at a time so it doesn’t break.” Though I feared for my life on exactly 4 occasions during the 2 hour adventure, it’s another one of those experiences which I’m so glad I lived through to tell the tale.


More falls... and the pools (view from the top) of Semuc Champey

After the exhilarating cave adventure, we headed to the pools. And although it was only a few minutes away, our guide made us drudge up thousands of steps half covered with slimy mud all for a view of all the pools. Ok, so maybe it was worth it… We went all the way back down for a swim in the group of crystal blue green pools. What a perfect way to spend the afternoon before hopping back onto the back of the pick up truck all the way back to El Retiro.