San Tomas Bella Vista Ecolodge Santa Catarina Palopo

... the souvenir vendors, we found the local market and bought some ingredients for dinner- nothing better than a breakfast taco for dinner! We bought our tortillas from a little stand on the side of the road and actually got to learn about the tortilla-making process. All they consist of is corn and water (they can be bland), but they were so nice and let Farrah and I make some of our own! It was exciting. And then we got to eat the ones we made. Mmmmm. Side ...

... now instead, but I've recieved some photos of the beautiful country I miss, and the work they've been doing on the school.<br><br>Currently they are working on installing the roof, which is one of the last steps to finishing the school. Next week they should be painting!<br><br>I will be going back to visit in December to inaugurate this school and to also share in a ceremony at the first school we built in El Zapote, both of which will be opening their doors to eager ...

... br>3 checks, 1 austrian and even a yank set about drinking a celebratory beer at 10 am and i could only watch.<br>after i finally received a package from london this week stuffed to the hilt with cutters choice and blue rizlas, i may have hit it a bit hard and couldnt stomach the beer for breakfast, a rolly sufficed!<br><br>Well thats about it, adventures have been a little tame but i can speak a little more spanish, had some fantastic ...

... has definitely been the best<br>and most rewarding homestay either of us has ever had - in terms of<br>cultural immersion, language immersion.. and just simple friendship. It<br>doesn't hurt that we also love our roommate Alan. He's an electrical<br>enginner from South Africa who is traveling for an entire year. He<br>started last December and is going all the way from Argentina to<br>Vancouver.. how sick is that? We thought he was pretty funny ever since<br>we met him, but we ...

... all around the garden with one in particular having a wonderful view of the lake and surrounding areas. What a way to learn a language! We met with the administrator and within an hour had signed up to do four hours of Spanish lessons a day, for five days whilst staying with a local Spanish family. Lynda and i were going to stay together as our Spanish was not as advanced as Al and Jules (note, read not as advanced as we didnt know anything!) Al and ...

... again the streets were full of people selling jewelry/fabric/souveniers etc to tourists. We popped into a little French style (!) coffee shop for lunch and then I retired to the hostel hammocks for some reading and sleep time (damn cold&#8230; but then we are on holiday now and if I want to lie in a hammock all avo there&#8217;s nothing to stop me J ) In the evening we headed to an amazing restaurant where the specials were fish and chips with mushy peas ...

... of time in the capital and had pre-arranged a bed in a hostel, with a free pick up close to the airport, with the sole intention of heading first thing in the morning to Antigua. I got off the plane, went through immigration and customs for the 2nd time that night and walked out into the waiting crowds, okay crowds is a bit of exaggeration. There were a few people waiting for friends and families and a few half hearted touts asking whether I wanted a taxi, except ...

... he or she goes. Some kind of uniform. That shows how proud they are of their home town. <br><br>After a while haging around Santiago we got our boat back to San Pedro. It got the chance to ride at the top of the boat with some locals too. One of them was playing a guitar, so we had music all the way back. <br><br>Once in San Pedro we took a tuc-tuc to San Juan, the town right next to the north. It's one of the few towns around the lake that directly interconnected by a ...

... owner is Manual who spoke English and is also a good source for information on the surrounding area and transport links. <br>The best of the budget options were Posada Belen and Hotel Tutto´s, which were side by side on 12 Calle and offered stunning views. They were not the nicest of rooms but the staff at both was very pleasant, the latter also had a cheap cafeteria. <br>The best in town was the Hotel Santa Thomas, 7a Avenida 5-32 ...