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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:19:51 GMT

SARAH AND MYLES' TOP FIVES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA

Top Five Cities	Top Five Beaches
1. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico	1. Tulum, Mexico
2. Panama City, Panama	2. Wizard Beach, Isla Bastimentos, Panama
3. Antigua, Guatemala	3. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
4. San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua	4. Playa Bancon, Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua
5. Caye Caulker, Belize	5. San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Top Five Restaurants	Top Five Adventures
1. El Fogon, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico	1. Volan Pacaya, Antigua, Guatemala
2. Weary Traveller Hostel, Tulum, Mexico	2. Shark Ray Alley, Caye Caulker, Belize
3. The Little Kitchen, Cay Caulker, Belize	3. Zip Lining, Monteverde, Costa Rica
4. San Salvador, El Salvador	4. Baldi Hot Springs, La Fortuna, Costa Rica
5. 24 Hours, La Fortuna, Costa Rica	5. Tikal, El Remate, Guatemala

SARAH AND MYLES' TOP PICTURES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA

more to come....

Friday, August 03, 2007

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:25:20 GMT

So this is it...our last post of the trip. Its been such a blast but as excited as we are to get back home, its also just a little upsetting to actually be getting ready to pack up here for the last time.

The last few days have been packed with craziness. On Tuesday we woke up early and headed over to the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal. It was so amazing watching the massive ships line up and load for their departure through the Americas.

We spent the morning taking pictures and videos of departing vessels and hanging out in the museum section dedicated to the workers and building of the Panama Canal. Afterwards, we bussed over to Summit Botanical Gardens and Zoo to check out some animals native to the country and take in the beautiful scenery.

Myles' new friend didnt like the shades joke...

Late afternoon was spent shopping on Avenue Central since Panama seriously has some of the cheapest goods you could ever imagine. I still keep waiting to wake up from this crazy dream and think: Man that wouldda been sweet...if only things could cost that little! I bought 3 pairs of high heeled shoes for $1.99 each, and Myles bought a really nice dress shirt and tie for just $5 USD. Ive spent next to just pennies on countless numbers of shirts, dress pants and jeans, bracelets, necklaces, arm bands, and make up, skirts, dresses and shoes. Its a shoppers paradise down here if I have ever seen one!

We spent the next day relaxing, suntanning and swimming in the roof top pool of our building, and just being plain lazy. Last night we were woken at 5 in the morning by the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard in my life. Lightning lit the entire room up and seriously, the thunder felt like it was shaking the concrete walls around us. Usually not one to be scared of thunder and lightning storms, last night I was terrified!

We plan on heading out on the town tomorrow night to check out some of Central Americas hottest night spots as our guidebook points out Panama has to offer. Then its time to finish up anything last minute and get ready to head back to reality. Thank you to everyone who has followed us all the way from Mexico till now and supported us through email and comments. Your words and support have meant so much!

Hightlights of the trip will follow upon our arrival home with top pictures and highlights so stay tuned!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:20:24 GMT

Left Bocas on Thursday and planned on heading over to El Valle. Only problem with that was that we never ended up finding a bus headed there. At last minute we decided instead to do the easy thing and head straight to Panama City. We got in early enough but spent almost half the day trying to find a place to stay. We finally stumbled upon a nice hotel in the La Exposicion district of Panama City that has air conditioning, private bathroom, cable tv, and even a pool on the roof...all for $14 USD a night. We spent today shopping and checking out just a small portion of this crazy city as its almost as though it has no end. We will spend the rest of our trip in and around here checking out the sights and sounds of the botanical garden and zoo, Isla Tabago, the Canal itself of course, and exploring the Causeway. Will make sure we give you at least one more update before we head back to the island, cant believe its in just under 10 days now!

Pics of Bocas del Toro and Panama City:

The trail looks innocent enough...

But looks can sure be decieving... Myles' mud caked sandle.

Least the pay off was worth it! Wizard Beach, Isla Bastimentos, Bocas Del Toro

At night in Bocas Del Toro

In and around Panama City

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:45:37 GMT

Our trip is slowly beginning to come to an end. We made it into our final destination country of Panama yesterday afternoon breezing through the border. It took us a little longer than expected to head over to Bocas Del toro however since the boat we were on to the islands blew a propeller less than 30 seconds after leaving the dock. We ended up having to wait another hour or so for the return boat from Bocas to come back and get us but it wasnt so bad...we picked up some take-out from a near by restaurant and hung out on the dock making small talk with our fellow passengers enjoying the sunshine.

the ride over to Bocas was amazing. the passing scenery was simply stunning, ranging from the open waters of the carribean, to deep chocolately rivers lined with palms, vines, and fern. Our only stop happened like a scene straight out of Deliverance where a man and his young son had fallen a tree to prevent people from crossing his river. We arent exactly sure of the details, only that a few words were exchaged in Spanish between the driver of our boat and the Panamanian river man, a plastic bag was handed over with the contents unknown, until the river man then motioned to his son who dove into the waters to unfasten the rope holding the tree down which cleared our path. I snuck and took a picture of the creepy river man as we were driving away, and luckily, myles said, didnt get a blow gun to the neck.

We stayed last night on the main island of Bocas Del toro called Isla colon but plan on heading for Isla Bastimentos tomorrow morning. While Isla colon is a beautiful island lined with many shops and restaurants, it doesnt have much to offer in the way of beaches whereas Bastimentos is noted to have some of Panamas most pristine. We headed out last night though, as colon is famous for boasting some of the best party scene. We spent the night over at Wreck Deck Bar, which has an actual sunken ship in a viewing pool that you can even swim in below the far patio of the club.

We will be updating the site with more pictures before leaving the islands, but are off to stroll around main street here taking in yet another beautiful sunny day in colon!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:19:45 GMT

ADDED: Videos from our zip line tour...see below

Headed out of La Fortuna yesterday morning on the Jeep-Boat-Jeep tour, which is actually a Van-Boat-Van tour if you really wanna get technical about it. It ended up being a really great way to break up an otherwise long travel day though, had we have taken the chicken bus back into Tilaran...we saw some really cool scenery and got a ton of fresh air.

Scenery from the van window on the way to Santa Elena/Monteverde

The boat over to Santa Elena/Monteverde

Spent the night in Santa Elena and got up early this morning to head into the "Monteverde Extremo Canopy Tours" and do some serious zip lining! Such an adrenalin rush mixed with gorgeous views of the rolling hills and beautful landscape. We took a ton of videos and lots of pictures...heres just a few from todays crazy adventures in the sky...

Extemo Canopys motto is 'Without Limits'...Without Limits, we think, because they make you sign a waiver...Us looking Extreme before heading into the forest.

Myles snuck and took a video while on the line (something for safety reasons youre not allowed to do) Some lines were "cloudier" than others and this line went straight through a fog patch. The camera doesnt pick it up, but like fog, its one of those things that only when YOURE in it, can you see clearly.

Awesome picture Myles took as we were climbing up to the zip lines

We caught the 2pm bus into San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica this afternoon, which didnt get in until around 8. We are staying here and plan on spending the full day in and around town tomorrow to do some souvenir shopping at the markets plus pick up as much cheap knock off designer stuff as we can! After that, its off to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side to relax and recooperate before getting into Panama next week!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:12:40 GMT

Pics from the last few weeks (first two of Ometepe, last two of surfing in Tamarindo) Click to enlarge...

Spent all of yesterday trying to make it into La Fortuna from Playa Tamarindo. The first two hours were spent waiting for the bus to come and then later, walking half way up the road and around the corner to see that that day, of all days, was the day a power pole had knocked down forcing the busses out of Tamarindo to detour. Sweet. We caught 3 more busses after that in order to get to Tilaran, all which went much smoother than our first ride out. We ended up having to spend the night in Tilaran as we arrived too late for the last bus into La Fortuna. A small cowboy styled town, Tilaran is cute and convieniently laid out. The only real problems were that Hotel Tilaran, the place we ended up staying for the night, is maybe TOO convieniently located next to an all-you-can-sing karaoke bar open until the wee hours of morning. We wandered around the streets of Tiliran during the day however, and it was there that we ran into our first ever beggar since probably Granada. He rode up to Myles on his two speed bicycle, rolled up his pant leg, and tapped on his wooden leg once or twice (perhaps this was in order to gather a better understanding of where our 'donation' would be going) he then held out his hand for money.

This morning we were up early again and back on the bus heading for La Fortuna, this time for real. We checked into a cheap $10 a night hostel as we planned on spending most of the day out at the nearby hotsprings (geothermical pools of water heated by Volcan Arenal) The springs we went to are called Baldi Hot Springs and its an $18 dollar entrance fee which we bought through or hostel ($25 entrance fee at the door) It was simply stunning inside and well worth the money. The park has 25 pools which are each heated to different temperatures ranging from cold, cool, warm and hot. Since today was fairly cloudy and rainy, we hung out mostly in the warmer pools, and briefly at the swim up bar since a single drink set us back $8 each!

The park also came complete with a waterslide which Myles and I both had a turn at. It looked so innocent we almost couldnt resist...if only we had known about the serious airtime you get coming off bump number 3. Video...watch for Myles shadow at the 9 second mark...thats gotta hurt

We are considering spending one more night here in a more expensive hotel with hot water and a pool care of a little extra money my parents gave us as a gift. Depends on how the weather here goes though since today was super cloudy and rainy. Either way, we plan on hitting Monteverde in the next day or so then into the capital of San Jose. We'll make sure to do another update before we leave there with pictures of the cloud forests and the big city!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:41:42 GMT

Made it to the Pacific side of Costa Rica yesterday afternoon and have been staying in Playa Tamarindo, yet another of the many surf spots weve been stopping at (next up, Puerto Viejo) We rented surfboards today and tested out the waves (which arent as good as the ones in San Juan del Sur) but not bad for us beginners.

Costa Rica is the most expensive of the Central American countries as mentioned in our guide book although there are still quite a few cheap places to stay and eat. Our hotel is $25 per night (down from $30 thanks to Myles bartering skills) and a plate of the local cuisine runs anywhere from $3-$6 USD.

We'll most likely be leaving here Wednesday morning though heading for Monteverde and the cloud forests. Theres a lotta Costa Rica left for us to see here, and were looking forward to all of it!

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:24:05 GMT

Our time in Nicaragua is almost over. We have spent the last week in San Juan del Sur, which is just 45min from the border of Costa Rica, and right on the Pacific Ocean. It has been a blast. We have spent most days swimming and playing in the surf and spent most evenings watching English movies in our room that actually has cable TV.

Tomorrow we leave for Costa Rica, and onto another beach town, Playa Tamirindo, for a few days. Then its off into the interior for some jungle trekking and hopefully the chance see some of Costa Ricas abundand wildlife.

The following are a few random pictures from the past few weeks of the trip

Myles with a sweet new Diesel Landcruiser Prado "Yo quiero Taco Bell"

"Whole Fish" on Isa de Ometepe, and Lobsters in San Juan Del Sur

Sun set San Juan Del Sur

Sarah and Myles on the beach.

Myles on the beach, and cliff hanger on the wall or maybe its the ground...you decide.

Whos darker?

Monday, July 02, 2007

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:49:32 GMT

Been away the last week almost on Isla de Ometepe which is an island composed of two volcanos, one active, the other, its crater now actually a lake. Our first 3 nights were spent at a place called Charco Verde which is a super small beach town? No...you almost couldnt even call it a village. It was nice though to soak up some much needed sunshine again after being in the city for a few days, plus just being away from it all. We trekked through a nature reserve one of the days and found our first actual deserted beach so we ended up spending most of the afternoon there. The sand there was black, almost I guess because its composed of some volcanic ash. Such contrast to the bleach white Carribean beaches we first met with when we started this thing!

The next day Myles decided to try his hand out at horseback riding. What started out soundly enough, ended up with his saddle falling off while riding uphill, and later being taken on a wild ride through the backroads of Ometepe. Yikes!

We spent our last night on the island in its biggest town of Moyogalpa but found it didnt have too too much to offer. The craziest thing that happened to us there, was finding THIS outside our window in the middle of the night after being woken up to what sounded like someone trying to break in.

We left on the 11am boat to San Jorge the next morning, then caught a cab over to San Juan del Sur, a surfing town, where we are now. Hotel lodging is a little more expensive here than the rest of Nicaragua, but its definitely one of the more desirable places to spend time at. You get the best of both worlds, having the cute, colorful town right at your fingertips and the beach just outside your hotel. We ordered lobster for dinner down at one of the restaurants on the pier last night for $10 USD and tried out some of the countrys domestic beers the night before. Its the first time weve seen the Pacific since leaving Victoria and the waves here are awesome! We spent a good hour out there this afternoon catching them into shore and playing around after we took a walk out to the point here and took some pictures.

Well probably stay another night or two here and then head for Costa Rica before the weekend. Its off to dinner now though...more pics to follow tomorrow!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:29:32 GMT

The anticipated picturesque update we once again promised you all...

Granada, Nicaragua

History of Nicaraguan Culture Museum

One of the many cathedrals

An old arms and weapon base and view from one of the towers

So we are leaving Granada here tomorrow afternoon and heading over to Isla de Ometepe, an island of two volcanos, Concepción and Maderas. We plan on spending a few days there but not sure how much swimming well end up doing since Lago de Nicaragua (lit Lake Nicaragua) is also the only fresh water lake in the world that has sharks! Unfortunately (fortunately for us) due to overfishing however, the possibility of running into one of these sharks is slim to none. Granada has been great though although we voted and decided that Antigua was our favorite of the two for colonial towns. Granada is undeniably more populated, therefore crowded and some parts of the city are perhaps dirtier than its shinier competition. Our guidebook has warned us that although people do swim in this portion of the lake, it is also polluted so ultimately, we didnt even dip our toes in. Antigua is also much cooler due to its location being in the Guatemalan highlands. Granadas average year round temperature is 30 to 32 degrees celcius. Poor Myles here is dying! Had a good time checking the place out, saw some gorgeous architecture and learned a lot about Nicaraguan history however, so the whole experience of the town was definitely well worth it.

We ALSO have some news to tell you about concerning our return date. As figured, we overshot the trip by a month and a half or so and are now in the process of booking return flights for August 6. We did a lot of discussing, poring over maps and timelines, more discussing and redicussing then ultimately figured that 5 more weeks of this should give us plenty of time to finish up our exploring! Excited to have us back so soon? Haha we thought so...