TravelStream™ news feed for member hanscottclaire on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hanscottclaire en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:54:12 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1222288560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1222288560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1222288560/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:54:12 -0500 The Central America Bit

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perquin, El Salvador

Claire and Scott:

In the past week we finished traveling El Salvador and have now arrived in Nicaragua, the 5th out of the 8 central American countries we are visiting. In San Salvador, last Friday, we had to say ciao for now to Han, and she is now back in the UK, I imagine rushing about like a mad thing trying to get herself organised and down to London.
San Salvador was a pretty cool city; it was just nice to be somewhere that required taxis to get around (everywhere else has been far too small for anything like that) and to see all the slogans and brand names we recognise so well (sony, barclays, toyota, etc etc). San Salvador provided us with one of the best meals of the trip - delicious steaks at La Pampa. This was a recommendation from one of the guys we met at the beach last weekend, he clearly has immaculate taste.
From San Salvador, Scott and I took a horrendously early bus to San Miguel and then onwards north into the backlands of El Salvador where population is far more sparse and the main town, Perquin, is little more than a tiny central square and a few houses dotted about. Perquin was the stronghold of the FMLN, the guerilla group, during the civil war in El Salvador between 1981 and 1992. Perquin is now the only place in El Salvador to have any kind of museum about the war. Our spanish speaking guerilla-turned-guide told us all about the war and the many martyrs who are celebrated at the museum, describing how they fought against a governmental army who had financial backing from Ronald Reagan´s USA and were outnumbered in terms of both people and, more importantly, arms. The museum was little more than a community centre with a few pictures and old weapons that had been recovered from both sides, as well as three shot-down helicopters in its back garden. Seems a shame that a war that took so many lives is not really remembered in any official way. There was also a huge bomb crater where the army had tried to wipe out this building which had been used in the war as the base up in Perquin.
In complete juxtoposition to all this, we stayed at the Hotel Perkin Lenka, a bizarre compound run by a guy from Montana who seems to have picked a rather random place to build a complex that consists of loads of rooms and an absolutely massive restaurant diner thing. We were the only people there the whole time and we couldnt work out why the heck he'd picked Perquin of all places to build such a nice tourist resort.
The next day we took a pick up and a bus to El Mozote. It was a harrowing day - El Mozote is a vollage of around 90 families in the middle of the countrside and was the site of a massacre of over 1000 people back in the early 1980s at the start of the war. Very few tourists visit, but those who do are welcomed because the current population want to raise awareness of what happened and hope that poeple who visit will spread the stories to other people. It feels a bit wrong to write about it on here, so we can tell you about it when we get home if you are interested.

Sunday we crossed the border into Honduras and then again into Nicaragua in the comfort of Ticabus. Air con, films, comfort, lovely. The day was a stroll untill a little before we were getting chucked the bus did we realise that we´d lost our guidebook. It is much easier to talk about this incident now, we have had time to recover but at the time it was hugely traumatic. For hours we hadnt a clue what to do with ourselves. Fortunatly we picked up another and could sleep easy that night.

The next day was a bit of a write off because Scott had was is affectionately known as the squits. it was just a 24-hour thing, luckily, so Tuesday we were back on the game. Claire took the opportunity on Monday to have her first ever pedicure. It was advertised as a pedicure and cocktail but when it came down to it, she decided to go for a beer instead. She thinks both Hannah and her Dad will be very proud of this decision. So now Claire has pink toes with butterflies and feels a little more feminine than she has for the past 6 months.

On Tuesday we explored Leon, the original capital city of Central America (back before they were all separate countries). Its quite a raw place, not bothered with aesthetics but very proud of its heritage and in fierce competition with Granada a little further south which is referred to round here as a ´theme park for tourists´. We took a tour on history and culture of Leon yesterday afternoon, provided by a Dutch guy who has been living here for a few years. We learnt about the history of the place spanning back as far as the 1600s right up until the Sandinista revolution that took place here in 1979, ultimately bringing down the Samoza dictatorship and putting in place a new leftwing government in the space of about 16 days. The guy who was the president back then (Daniel Ortega) has was actually re-elected in 2006 after a 15 year break, but popular opinion is not very favourable of him right now.

Today is the day of the Patron Saint of Leon so there´s been a 2 day drinking ban (dont worry, we managed to find the one bar that was still serving litre bottles of Toña last night, albeit behind locked doors) and this morning there were processions through the city. We stumbled upon the parade by accident when we were looking for a museum and all of a sudden we turn a corner and there are marching bands and flags and all sorts. The marching bands were very xylophone happy and they were followed by a huge statue of their patron saint and half the towns population clustered around her parading along too.


Its bloody hot and muggy here. We´re heading up to the highlands (coffee country!!) to Matagalpa this weekend to get a bit of a break. Leon has 18 churches, we´ve seen probably half of them so we´re going to go try find the rest now. Speak to you later xxxxxxx





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220137500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220137500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220137500/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:34:13 -0500 The Central America Bit

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Tikal National Park, Guatemala

Scott:

So since the last blog we left Belize for Guatemala, left Guatemala for Mexico and only just yesterday did we get back into Guatemala. It would make more sense on a map, i think. I´m gonna go and upload some photos, Claire....

Claire: Good effort Scott. He lasted 15 minutes which means it took him 15 minutes to write the 3 lines above :-)

We´ve been very lazy recently and instead of doing all the journeys by bus, have been booking ourselves onto shuttles which basically cart around a load of frazzled and probably hungover tourists from one destination to the next. Our excuse is that we were always negotiating borders and they´re not easy - tihnk of lots of smelly lorries, street vendors blocking your every move, little men in hats screaming at you to change your pesos/dollars/quetzals/pounds with them and not with their colleague to the left, panic about whether you're meant to be answering ´si´or ´no´to a question you don´t understand, and so on and so on - so it made more sense to go in a shuttle where there is a driver with you all the time helping you.

Our first stay in Guatemala only lasted two days because we were just popping into Peten (the northern bit of Guatemala that sticks out between Belize and Mexico) to see Tikal and the nearby town of Flores. Flores is a little town on an island in a lake, joined to the mainland by a bridge. It is very charming if a little touristy, but we found a bar with stunning sunset views and 2 for 1 mojitos and beers between 4 and 7, and we managed to stay somewhere actually within budget for the first time since we left Honduras. Even if it did mean staying somewhere where the toilets leaked all over the bedroom floor...

Tikal was much more impressive in its size and setting than Copan, although Copan is admittedly more famous for its art and sculpture than its overall grandeur. We took a 3am bus (yes, 3am!) from Flores, getting to the site at about 4:30. We then walked in the dark to the very back of the site and climbed temple 4 and waited for sunrise. It was very misty so not a great sunrise BUT we did get to see some spyder monkeys in the trees in front of us and another small mammal than none of us can remember the name of right now. Tikal is in the middle of the jungle, so as we explored the site we were constantly confronted by various animals. The howler monkeys put on an awesome show and we watched two groups screaming at each other at the borders of each of their territories. They didnt shut up all morning. The spyder monkeys were a lot quieter and quicker and cuter, and we even saw some babies clumsily making their way from branch to branch. We also came across a huge black tarantula, something I'd been looking for every time we went into the jungle, and our guide told us he was perfectly safe so we picked him up. He was quite slow and placid, so much more savoury than the cockroaches that are forever lurking in our toilet rolls and showers.

From Tikal we headed up to Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. The town of Palenque isn´t anything to write home about so I won´t. We stayed instead at the entrance to Palenque national park, in the middle of the jungle where they´ve built a series of sweet little cabins and an awesome bar/restaurant of all things. We wre there for two nights and both nights had live music (there were these men who could play every instrument under the sun including lots of recorder-like things so i was very content) and on the second night we were even treated to some flame throwers. You just dont expect this in the middle of the jungle, but we werent complaining. Another awesome thing was that it cooled down in the night so for the first time in months we were able to get some sleep.

After doing 3 ruins with a guide, we decided to try taking on Palenque on our own. We had learnt all the facts about ball courts, the way the pyramids were built, the mayan population structure, etc etc, so we bought a little book and Scott became the guide for the day, filling us in on all the specific information about this particular site. Palenque was different from Tikal in that it was in manicured gardens instead of dense rainforest, and was also a lot whiter and brighter than the others. You could also climb these pyramids and get some great panoramas of the surrounding area.

From Palenque we moved onto San Cristobal de las Casas in western Chiapas. Han´s going to tell you about this though so I´ll call it a day.

In other news, Scott and I booked our flights home - touch down is 3rd December at 10:40am in Heathrow. Boooooooooo!! We thought we had booked our flights to LA from Panama as well but I just got an email that the card didnt work or something. Anyway, thats good news because we wanted to change them anyway so we got to USA before the election.

We´re back in Guatemala now after our impromtu jaunt into Mexico and glad to back in proper Central America. Mexico was too full of tourists heading upto Cancun, but we did have an excellent time there.

Right. that´s all .See you later xxxx

PS. Fern, what about Naomi? I like that name.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220483640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220483640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220483640/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:27:53 -0500 The Central America Bit

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San Cristobal de las Casas, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico

Claire: Sorry everyone who was expecting to hear from Scott or Han, its me again I'm afraid. I thought the previous entry had not saved (the itnernet crashed before i could save it) so I just popped in planning to rewrite it. But good news its there so now I guess I can just continue and Han will write about Guatemala instead of San Cristobal.

San Cristobal is another town of the cobblestone-streets plus colonial-churches nature, where all the little houses lining the streets are painted brightly and there's lots and lots of wrought iron railings and the like. The streets are also lined with old VW beetles (the ones with engines in the boot!) and many many women and young girls in rainbow-coloured dresses selling pieces of material and friendship bracelets. The town is centred, as most of these towns are, around a large "parque central", with gardens in the middle where old men with canes and no teeth sit discussing the days' events with each other just like you'd imagine. We had a couple of absolutely delicious coffees looking out over the park watching the world go by.

On our first day in San Cristobal we took a tour to local indigenous villages. Here, older Mayan traditions blended in unique way with the Catholicism brougt over by the Spaniards and has resulted in a ind of quasi-Catholic town where religious leaders gain their positions of power simlpy by adding their name to a waiting list in the main church and where sermons are so seldomly held in the church that there is one church for 60,000 people. They use the cross, similar to Christianity, but only because it represents the Ceiba tree, an impotrant and symbolic tree for the Maya. Inside the church it is barely recognisable as Christian. There are no pews and the floor is scattered with pine leaves. Shamans offer healing sessions for families or individuals in the church, so the floor was taken up with lots of different groups, all kneeling in front of a vast array of candles (different colours represent different things, but i cant remember exactly what). They take fizzy drinks into the church because they believe burping relives them of bad spirits, and they rub chickens (or eggs, if chickens are not available) over any parts of the body that are in pain torelieve them of ailments. It was so utterly different to anything i'd seen before. None of us knew quite what to make of it.

The next day we went to a nearby Canyon but it wasnt as spectacular as other things we've seen. You know you're getting desensitised when you sit in a canoe and say "oh, another crocodile. Meh".

We couldnt resist staying in San Cristobal another night, so we spent the third day exploring the town properly, taking in lots of museums on Mayan medicine, amber, lenca tribes in Chiapas and so on. Did you know Mayan women give birth on their knees and did you know that amber is amde from sap of trees that lived 30-40million years ago? Well there you go. Han and I succumbed to all the jewellery shops around the town and bought amber, jade and amethyst things even though its completely out of budget but justified by the fact its less than half the price of the UK and twice as special.

So that was San Cristobal. Han's going to do Guatemala next.

Xxxx

PS. Mark, awesome about the dream team thanks for doing that. As long as I beat Scott, that'll do!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1219277160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1219277160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1219277160/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:17:28 -0500 The Central America Bit

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Tobacco Caye, Belize Cayes, Belize

Claire: We have news... we've found paradise.



Belize is what I always imagined Jamaica would be like, only without
the gang- and drug-related crime and with a slightly more
understandable version of Patois (Creole English). We did manage
to get here the day after we wrote our last blog. We met a guy who
called himself 'Flash' down at the dock and he said he had a boat that
could get us as far as Puerto Barrios in Guatamala and that if we didnt
make the ferry from there to Punta Gorda in Belize we wouldnt have to
pay him. So we hopped aboard his pick up truck (10 of us and our bags
in the back of one truck, it was a tight squeeze!) and we set off for
what we thought would be a nearby dock and his boat. However, it soon
became evident that 'boat' was a euphemism for 'pick up truck' and he
took us all the way to the border, across it, and to PuertoBarrios in
his truck instead. We got there on time and that's all that mattered so
we were amused at his little trick rather than annoyed at him for
lying.



As soon as we got to Punta Gorda we knew we would like Belize. Its like
stepping into another world, and this world is just like all the
postcards you get from various tropical destinations. Everything is
painted bright colours and all the houses are made from wood and
sometimes thatch, on stilts. Everyone walks a lot slower than anywhere
else I've ever been and they have more smiles. It is also lovely not to
have to speak spanish.



We spent our first three nights in a little town called Placencia. With
900 full-time residents and hardly any tourists, it was a pretty quiet
place. The sea was crystal clear and soooo warm, the sand was white and
hot, the sky was clear every day and the main street was car-less
because it is in the Guiness Book of Records as the narrowest street in
the world. We couldnt even walk two abreast. All the houses are built
on the beach and palm trees are dotted about the place with hibiscus
plants everywhere else. We had some amazing seafood and introduced
outselves to yet another national beer. This one, Belekin, also comes
in Stout form which Scott and Han were particularly pleased about. I'm
just happy I can stomach it, as Cuba Libres are off the menu here - one
tiny downfall about Belize is that it is a lot more expensive so we
have to be extra careful when ordering frivolous cocktails i.e. don't
order them.



We originally planned to stay in Placencia one or two nights, but we
only managed to drag ourselves away after three nights and even then it
was a struggle. We hopped on one of the ex-American school buses to
another seaside village called Dangriga. We didnt stay here long as we
took a boat out to Tobacco Caye. There was a storm over Cuba on the day
we went across so the sea was a little rough - the guy who drove us
over there in his little 10-seater speed boat (a rownig boat with a
motor kind of attached) didnt know what hit him and as we docked at the
Caye shook his head and complained that the sea was 'Rough as hell'. We
all got soaked through, like on the way to Utila. So much so that on
the return journey hannah took her goggles with her, but this time it
was much smoother.



You should check out Tobacco Caye on google earth. Its ridiculous. It
is much smaller than the inside of any football stadium i've been to,
and from anywhere on the island you can see the sea in all directions.
We stayed in a little cabin with stilts out over the sea and a little
verandah from which our views of the sea and sunset were unhindered by
anything else. You can snorkel right off the beach here, so we spent
the next two days sunbathing and snorkling and not doing much else!
Snorkling highlights included starfish, a stingray, a huge shoal of
fish and an unidentified ugly big brown fish. Again, we didnt really
want to leave Tobacco Caye but we were spending way over our budget
everyday and needed to see the rest of Belize before we ran out of
money.



Belize City was a horrible stop over - as nice as the rest of Belize
is, that is how yucky and grim this city is. There's nothing else
to really say about it.



We got out of there asap the next morning and took the 6am bus to
Orange Walk. When we got off the bus in Orange Walk everything
was made very easy by the lovely locals who helped us out with
everything. We told the taximan we wanted to book a tour to go to
Lamanai, a Mayan site, and he walked us round to the tour agency and
refused any payment. Once there, we asked to book a tour and they said
there was one leaving in an hour. We needed breakfast and a room, so
the guy from the tour agency drove us to a good hostel and also to a
place for breakfast and then walked back with us to the agency ready to
start. This tour was one of the best we've done - it involved a 90
minute boat trip down the river, spotting wildlife. Before we even got
on the boat we spotted a crocodile chilling out in the river and we
even saw him creep up on and catch a little black bird for his brekkie.
We also saw a river snake, bats, Jesus Christ birds (they walk on
water, hence the name), a couple of huge iguanas and best of all, two
spider monkeys who were as interested in us as we were in them. The
site of Lamanai was really interesting: the mayan pyramids were nestled
within the jungle and you could climb to the top of Jaguar temple for
views over the jungle and river. A pyramid looks and feels a lot
steeper from the top than it does from the bottom, we discovered. You
could tell you really were in the depths of the jungle because the
whole time you could hear jaguars growling nearby. We were assured all
was safe.



I'll let Scott take over here. Just one other thing - I think, judging
from your responses to the last blog, that we may have emphasised the
danger elements of the waterfall and hike more than the other, fun
elements. We were completely safe, mum, i promise. I will get back to
you in one piece as will the other two. :-)



Scott:



But I am still getting headaches from that waterfall. Im only doing
today as it will take me as long as it took Claire to do all of
the above. Today we went to ATM, whic was a lot more exciting than just
withdrawing money. It is a huge cave that the Mayans trekked into to
perform sacrifices to the underworld. We started the day with an
hour trek through the jungle, having to wade through the river 3 times.
The cave entrance was blocked by a pool of water, so shoes and all we
had tio swim a few metres to get in. It was cold when we forst got in
but with our clothes on we sooned warmed up. We then spend about an
hour clambering though the wet chamber of the cave. A lot of the time
we were waist deep in water, holding onto the walls as we went.
Sometimes you would put your foot down on a rock, other times you'd get
nothing and just have to tred water. We had helmets and headtorches on
and so each time you looked up you got to see how tall the cave was and
a lot of those stag-lerg-mites and stag-lerg-tights (im sure the
phonetic spelling will help you pronounce it as much as it helped me
spell it). We made it to the dry cavern where we saw lots of pottery
that had never been removes from the cave. So where we saw it is where
the Mayans left it. There wwre also skulls of those they had
sacrifaced. One of the skulls belonged to a young girl and was attached
to the spine, arms and legs, a skeleton would be the word there. It was
a well preserved skeleton. A superb day id say.



Thats all folks, thats Belize. We are heading for the Guatamalan
tomorrow and for the ruins of Tikal. Hope everyone is well. I saw that
torres got us a goal and the win on saturday which was good news. Mark,
could you please email a copy of my dreamteam when you get a chance.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1216523040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1216523040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1216523040/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:02:55 -0500 The Central America Bit

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Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

Claire:

I'm writing this from the lovely air-conditioned office at the Iguana Research and Breeding Station on Utila, Honduras. Its 9pm at night here. Just to set the scene... we've just had a delicious dinner of prawns and Scott-and-Claire's-South-American-non-mayonnaisy-coleslaw, I'm covered head to toe in bites from mosquitoes, sandflies, flying ants and whatever type of ant it is that gets in all the iguana food, and I've just seen one ghecko (spelling???) run across the ceiling while another one is eyeing me up through the window from outside. Five minutes ago we were chasing a rat-type thing across the visitor centre where we were eating dinner and attemptiong to feed a cockroach to the tarantula baby. Unfortunately the cockroach escaped. I screamed, obviously.

Yesterday when we got home from Tretanic, a bar in a big treehouse that sells gin and tonics for 75p, Scott stumbled (and I mean stumbled, not walked) into a big rat-mouse animal that didn't look - in his inebriated state - totally like either a rat or a mouse. He mentioned it just now, after we'd chased the creature through the visitor centre and it turns out that if it is neither a rat nor a mouse it could be a species that is, as yet, unknown and unrecorded on Utila. If we are right, it is a species either from Panama or Belize that has emigrated here. Scott's spider research may never see the light of day but he can sleep easy knowing that he discovered a new mammal on Utila within 7 days of getting there.

Ok. So, we got to La Paz FINALLY after 2 days of hanging around Puno not really knowing what to do. We came into La Paz from the roads in the moutains and our first sight of the city was from above, next to a statue of Jesus (who else??). We spent a vey busy afternoon haggling for alpaca goods and trying to remember where our hostel was so we could get a taxi back. We also went to the post office and sent all the crap we'd bought back to the UK. It should be on a ship somewhere in the Atlantic on its way to Auntie Elaine. The whole process was completely confusing and I don't know how anyone manages it without knowing at least a tiny bit of Spanish. We couldnt afford a box so its all gone just wrapped up in some raffia type stuff. Who knows what state it will be in when it gets home. As long as the Xmas decorations are safe, it'll be fine.

We took our three flights to get from La Paz to San pedro Sula the next day. Not much to report on that, except for the relief we felt when we got off the last plane in San Pedro and it was HOT not cold. Soooo welcome! I'd had enough of altitude too.

We spent the weekend in San Pedro, which is a rather weird (scott says I should exchnge the word 'weird' for 'shit') city. What it lacks in culture, nice people and understandable Spanish, it makes up for in American imports, fast food restaurants and nice leafy avenues. We spent a lot of money (including 2 whole englsh pounds for a 30 second taxi ride up a hill - the driver knew he could charge what he wanted because it was dark and we were gringos and there was no way I was walking. On the bright side, we did find time to see Hancock as there was little else to do. On the negative side, someone in the cinema stole my cardigan. Not that I need it out here. Scott's just told me its 29 degrees in this office. This air conditioned office. And its 9pm.

We went to the airport to meet Hana on Sunday night. We were taken by a guy called Carlos who is a friend of the owners of our hostel. The plane was, of course, late so I slept over 4 chairs (like I've seen so many travellers do and have always wanted to be one of them .Turns out its not that great) while Carlos told Scott all about English football including how Osama Bin Laden owns one of the teams. Can someone fill us in on this???

Han got in at about 1:30am, she was pretty tired but had had an awesome time in NYC - think museums, bars, lack of sleep in the city-that-never-sleeps and Central Park and I think that pretty much sums up her time there. The next day we took a bus to La Ceiba, the port city in the north of Honduras, and then took the Utila Princess II over to Utila. It was a nice day so we thought we'd sit outside. As soon as the boat left port we realised that when the Londely Planet said that those who sit outside should prepare to get wet, it didn't mean the odd bit of splishsplash. It was like those bad movies where you can tell that the 'rain' or 'waves' come from two poor internsw heaving bucket-fulls of water onto the set. With every wave that the little boat pounded into, we were covered with cold salty water. After about 5 minutes we contemplated going inside but there was just no point. We were already wet to the skin by that point so we just sat it out for the next hour and a half.

We got to the port at Utila look more than a little bedraggled, but there were two people there to meet us and they even took our bags.

The iguana station is up a little dirt track away from the main town on Utila. The volunteer house is a big wooden building on stilts, with the visitor centre, kitchen and offices downstairs and all the bedrooms, bathrooms and a big balcony with tables and hammocks upstairs. There are 11 other volunteers (all girls) and also one of the co-directors of the foundation stay here. he is from Tegucigalpa and is finishing his biology degree while carrying out resaearch here. Our days start at 8am (give or take) and they begin with breakfast on the balcony. Then two of us go and pick a bucket full of hibiscus flowers and leaves, dice them up into a pulp and feed them to all the iguanas. The green iguanas also get bananas. There are 12 iguana enclosures, with iguanas of varying ages. They will all eventually be released into the wild but they are kept here until they are past breeding age or until they have bred a certain number of young, as the population is critically endangered and by releasing them back to the wild they will likely be poached (for meat) or die due to habitat loss before they can reproduce a significant amount of young. When they lay eggs they are brought into the special trays where we can look after them to ensure that more make it to hatchling stage and then to adult stage than they normally would in the wild.

On Monday we are having a visit from the Honduran Secretary of Education, he will be deciding whether to grant the foundation NGOstatus. By having NGo status, we would be able to buy a huge chunk of Utila and turn it into a protected area. So a lot of time this week has been spent sprucing the place up like we're waiting for an Ofsted inspection or something. They read that I was in marketing so I was called in to change the signs and make the language more communicative of what they are doing. This involved painting and laminating so I was very happy. They also found out that Hannah was an artist so she's been commissioned to decorate the terrarium (where we keep the tarantulas and fish and whatnot) with pictures of orchids, humming birds and a mammal that I don't know the name of). Unfortunately, due to a communication error, they thought Scott was a geologist until last night so his zoology skills havent been made the most of yet.

We took a trip to Water Caye on Thursday, and uninhabited tiny little island (about the size of Middleton Hall only stretched thinner) where we went snorkling and sunbathed. Felt like we were cooking. Scott went so red it still hurts to wear a tshirt apparently.

Today we went to the beach on the island but found the ground to hard and the Bob Marley music too cliched so we came back. Scott doesnt know yet but some of the guys went and bought ingedients for a cake for his birthday which Han and I are goin to try to somehow cook in secret for him tomorrow. We also went to Stuarts Hill to watch the sunset, climbing a bit water tower to do so. Was very pretty, maybe the best any of us had seen.

its pretty hard to not relax on this island. Pace of life is very slow, the weather is very hot (and the storms, when they arrive are freakin awwwwesome - they make the whole house shake) and even the spiders I swear dont scuttle around as fast as they do at home.

Scott says he hopes there are enough blogs to satisfy Uncle Ray. I say I'm sure you're all hearing more than enouh from us.

Also, Scott says 'Ozzy if you ever read this, kitchen roll is essential. I think he's missing it. I also think even if Ozzy did read this blog there's no way he'd make it to the end of this mammoth entry. The man has things to do.

Sorry this has been such a long one, there seemed to be a lot to tell you plus I've had half a bottle of savignon blanc and t always makes me talk. And on top of that we're all reading Stephen Fry books and they seem to prattle on a bit and it kind of overspills into real life sometimes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1225237020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1225237020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1225237020/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:06:42 -0400 The Central America Bit

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Panama City, Panama

Claire: This is just a quickie because we´re really far behind with the blog but have no time to do it in between all the amazing sights and activities and "red devils" (buses) in Panama City. But I{m worried if i dont do it i´m going to forget everything by time i get home!

From La Fortuna in Costa Rica we headed up to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean again - finally, after leaving it way back in Belize. The place was, as you would expect from the Caribbean, completely chilled out with an amazing national park just down the road. We were taken to this park by a German biologist and his Costa Rican wife and we all went trotting through the forest, him carrying a huge telescopic lens thing on his back. When his wife spotted an animal up in the trees, he found it on the lens and we could see it up close and make out all the details. There´s nothing quite like watching a hairy sloth having a big yawm and scratching his tummy, or being able to make out the up and down of baby caiman´s lungs as they breathe because you can see such minute detail. We also spotted a kinkajou, a nocturnal animal that was out late and that our guide had never seen before in his ten years of living there. So I hate to admit it, but Costa Rica was actually pretty darn good, even if it was a little expensive. We both enjoyed it a lot more than we expected to.

On to Panama... which is without any doubt whatsoever just THE best country in the world. It has everything! First stop was Bocas del Toro, an archipeligo of islands on the Caribbean just a short hop over the border (which was technically a long walk over a rickety old railway bridge from one customs to the other) from Costa Rica. The main town is incredibly touristy but had happy hour G&Ts for one dollar (!!), amazing sunsets and cute little places to eat and drink on stitlts over the water. Afer a couple of days there we headed to Isla Bastimentos, just ten minutes by boat across the water. We stayed at Tio Toms, an amazing guesthouse where the rooms are on the water and where beer and wine flows from about 9:30am. Isla Bastimentos has no roads at all, and everyone speaks a fun dialect that is a mix on Spanish, English and Creole. There was an organic choccy farm up in the hills where we went twice because I miss chocolate so much and it was delicious.

Isla Bastimentos also had the most beautiful beach we've seen so far (sorry, Belize) and some amazing snorkeling which was accessed by kayaking across the lagoon to a deserted beach and then having a little scout around at all the parrotfish.

Next stop was Boquete for a coffee tour. Boquete, up in the hills, was completely different because it was fresh, drizzly and full of old Americans (as opposed to young Americans). Apparently it is the 4th best place to retire in the world, but I can´t think why what with all the rain. They make some yummy coffee, all organic and speciality grown etc etc etc, so we bought a lot of it. It was great to finally find a tour where you learnt something about coffee and how it is produced and how to determine a good coffee bean and so on. So well worth putting up with the rain!!

Boca Brava was next on the list. This is an island on the southern (Pacific) coast of Panama. When we arrived it rained all day and all the boating tours were way to expensive for us to afford on our own, so we were about to call it quits and head off the next day when at dinner we met Brydie and Alice, two fellow travelers who we have been bumping into again and again ever since Santa Ana in El Salvador. They were planning on doing a snorkling and beaching trip so we were able to go with them. Things went from better to even better when, about 20 minutes into the trip, we ran into a group of humpback whales and followed them across the swells of the pacific in our little motorised canoe for a couple of hours while they fed. We saw their blow holes and the smoothness of their skin and everything we were so close. Scott really really loved it and is pleased to have another thing ticked off his "things i must do before i die" list. He spent the afternoon playing with hermit crabs on the beach (conducting research) while I lazed.

Now we are in Panama City. This place is all about the white/glassy sky scrapers, crazy traffic that refuses to slow down when you dare to actually cross the road, friendliest people you could imagine (although same goes for all of panama), heat heat heat, oh and the canal. We got to Panama City courtesy of a friendly old chap we met in El Valle. I dont think they do driving lessons or tests or anything formal like that here because on the 1 hour journey he nearly crashed twice and got us locked in the car with all the alarms going when he couldnt work out how to work the electronic key. All good fun.

Yesterday we went to the Bodies exhibition that Han saw in New York. The corpses of Chinese prisoners of war were donated to some guy who dissects bodies and you could see all the muscles and livers and stomachs, as well as small foetuses at different stages of development. I´m not sure where he got these from as I´m pretty certain the chinese POWs were all male... Also took in a great view of the city in a nearby park with hiking trails - really surreal to be walking in the rainforest when you can hear sirens and car horns.

Today we finally saw the canal, something i´ve been looking forward to since we booked this trip, and it did not disappoint. We got to the look out point to see a cruise ship steaming through, and as we took photos of all the wealthy tourists on their cruise ship they took photos of all us budget tourists on our look out point. It was completely cheesy (i.e. a man on a microphone telling us to welcome them all to panama on the count of three...) so it was awesome. We stayed there for ages, watching them all come in and each time being astounded at the size of the ships. The cruise ship paid $166,000 to get through the canal and it only had 2 feet of room each side as it squeezed through.

Wow ok I´m finally up to date for the first time in ages. Sorry for the really matter of fact entry, I guess its not going to be that fun to read but at least it means we have it all written down so we can write stuff up properly when we get back. Scott says we´re not going to do that but i figure we´ll have lots of free time on our hands with the recession and all.

We´re off to San Blas tomorrow, again on the Caribbean, and then back to Panama City for the all important GP next Sunday. Very very excited about that!

We were so happy this weekend as well, when we found out Livepool had beaten Chelsea at home (top of the league baby!) and that Wycombe are still unbeaten (top of the league as well baby!!). Turns out all our teams needed was for Scott and I to chip off out of the country!

xxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1224708840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1224708840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1224708840/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:41:45 -0400 The Central America Bit

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David, Panama

Claire: Argh we're sorry its been so long since we wrote this, the days are now going by so fast that we think its been about 48 hours when in fact its been 2 weeks or whatever. However, we cant help but notice there are NO COMMENTS so I guess we dont feel too bad. I think you're all over our trip, which is fair enough. I guess there are only so many waterfalls, bus journeys and beaches you can read about before it gets old. However, if you're up for more, do read on!

From Ometepe we headed straight into Costa Rica and had the shock of our lives when we stepped off the bus in Liberia, northern Costa Rica, to find a Burger King, a TFI Fridays and a KFC all within 50 metres. We were only about an hour and a half away from the border with Nicaragua but we might as well have flown across the Atlantic. Our second shock was when we checked into a shitty little hostel (sorry for the language, Nan, but there's really no other word to describe it) with saggy foam mattresses and not really even a light, and were charged 22 dollars for the pleasure. 22 dollars!!!!

The next morning we headed out of Liberia asap and made our way to the beach town of Samara on the Nicoya Penisula. Being on the Pacific side, it has some pretty sizeable waves so the town was full of surfer dudes and dudettes and they seem to have infected the place with their chilled out attitude to everything, making it a lovely little place to spend a few days. We rented boogy boards both mornings and caught a few waves the lazier way (boogy boarding is like surfing only you lie down and therefore dont need to poccess good balance or bendy knees). Am definitely going to be heading down to Newquay next summer to try that out again! Other than that, we swam, sunbathed and took a horse ride along the beach around the bay. Scott, being a natural with animals, was annoyingly good at it and looked like quite the cowboy by the end of the hour. I don't think I have the same ability, as my horse only agreed to move if ten year old boys threw coconuts at it, and that was the one time I didn't want it to move at all because I wanted to stay where I was and shout at the nasty little brats in Spanish.

From Samara we tried to get to Fortuna and Volcan Arenal in one day, but it went completely tits up and the less said about that the better. To cut a long story short we had to detour to San Jose for a night and then head back up to Fortuna the next day. We went on a bit of a shameless souvenir rampage in Fortuna, most of which we'll probably decide is tacky crap when we get home but for now the shopaholic in us has been fed. The best thing about Fortuna is the volcano that looms up behind it a few kilometres away. Volcan Arenal has been spurting out lava non-stop for a few years now, and as we were sat on the balcony of our little hostel at night sipping beer we could see the spout of the volcano glowing red.

The next day we took a hike in a huge thunder and lightning storm (I seem to remember someone saying not to go anywhere near trees when there's lightning about, but the trek leader didnt seem in the least bit worried). As night fell we saw the volcano from the other side - the lava flows away from the town, not towards it - and watched the little trails of red slide down the side of volcano in the distance. It moves startlingly fast. I guess that makes sense. We finished out time in Fortuna with a trip to Baldi hot springs. Like elsewhere in Costa Rica, the difference between there and the other springs we'd been to in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala was huge. We are used to little dug out pools with perhaps a small changing room and a cafe if you're lucky, but this was like Bath Spa... Tiles and huge pools and jacuzzis and hot waterfalls and sun beds and massages and wet bars and George Michael singing about Fast Love and all sorts from huge speakers...

i have to go now because the computer is being fixed at the hostel, but anyway we'll tell you about Puerto Viejo and a bit of Panama next time.

See you all soon and keep well xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1223150820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1223150820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1223150820/tpod.html Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:09:45 -0400 The Central America Bit

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Ometepe Island, Nicaragua

Claire:

While you lot are all contending with crumbling banks, the onset of Autumn and no doubt the return of X-Factor et al, I thought I'd update you on the goings on over the other side of the pond. Firstly, rainy season set in. It has rained and rained every day for the past two weeks, but luckily the storms either keep themselves to the evening hours or come and go pretty quickly during the day. The nights are now a lot cooler, the days a bit sweatier and we're both constantly buzzing on cafeine because whenever there's a shower it seems like a good excuse to stop for a coffee.

We seem to have lost our momentum for covering ground a little, and have managed to spend nearly a week in Leon followed by 5 nights in Granada and now we're on day four on the Isla de Ometepe in the south of the country.

We spent the remainder of our time in Leon croc-spotting at the beach, sampling the Flor de Cana rum, getting swept along in religious parades and getting over the effects of the afore-mentioned drink.

On Thursday we went to Peneloya beach, 20km from Leon. It has a weird geography that has made it a great home for crocodiles. Basically, what used to be a 35km spit along the coast was made into an island and now the water that runs between this island and the main land has become a salt-water river where mangrove swamps grow. We took a boat trip along this river, and had been going less than ten minutes when we spotted a huge adult croccy chilling out on the bank. He dived sharpish into the water but not before we got the chance to get a look at him. or her. We also visited a local co-operative that are farming conch in the mangroves to sell to restaurants in leon to make conch ceviche. We'll make you some when we get home because its absolutely delicious. Good for a hangover too, we found out the next day. That night we finally bought a bottle of the local rum. Its some pretty dark stuff and cheap too, so between 6 of us we got through 4 bottles and 'an early night' turned into stumbling home at 4am. Next day we paid dearly.

So we had to put off moving on to Granada until Saturday. Granada and Leon are both colonial towns, but they differ in that Granada has had a tourist-friendly face lift so the churches are all painted yellow and white compared to Leon's faded grey, and the cobble stone roads dont have pot holes, and there are hanging baskets all over the place. On top of all this, horse-drawn carriages line the streets. As a result, the place had more tourists than it did locals. Still, as I said we managed to spend 5 nights there before we knew it.

We went up to Volcan Mombacho on Sunday, yet another volcano to add to our list! This one had a huge crater where it had erupted 2000 years ago and smoking fumeroles that stank of sulphur. We took this hike with two Chilean men in their 60s who were traveling central America and talked to us endlessly about how they'd had hair transplants last year and were very happy with the result. When the volcano erupted, it threw huge rocks out of its core and these landed in Lago de Nicaragua a few kilometres away. They now make up Las Isletas, a group of 350ish little islands on the lake.

Next day we went to Masaya, a nearby town with really good markets for hammocks and the like. We went first to the new market, but it was too expensive and nice so we headed instead to the old market, where the arts and crafts are dispersed amongst stalls with unrefrigerated meats, children's toys, clothes, shoes, belts, pet food, DVDs and CDs and just about everything else you could think of. We were much more at home there, with old ladies shouting 'hamacas' at us and people thrusting goods into our hands and bartering for hours just to get it down another dollar not because you need to but because its good fun. The starting prices for things at this market were lower than the prices we were trying to get them down to in the first market. We bought another hammock for 10 dollars, not sure how long it'll last but its sooo pretty.

We posted all that stuff home now, with our sleeping bags too. it was worryingly cheap to post a huge 7kg parcel back to the UK so either the Nicaraguan post service s awesome or corrupt. We'll find out in due time, i guess.

We were going to move on from Granada on Wednesday morning but then we remembered that Liverpool were playing on Wednesday night (lunch time for us) and there was an awesome little sports bar in Granada run by a kooky American and frequented by his equally kooky bunch of ex-pat friends. One of his employees who is also a local tour guide offered to take us to the Isletas on his boat in the morning on Wednesday so we decided we may as well do that and then get back for the football. So on Weds we sailed around the islands, including one that is home to four monkeys. Lucy, the mummy monkey came on the boat and ate our cookies. Some of the islands are owned by rich Nicaraguans and they have built these condos on them. We took a look at one that is for sale for ust 450,000 dollars. Something to save up for!

The afternoon consisted of football, lots of litres of beer and more than a few mojitos.

We finally made it to Ometepe on Thursday and have spent each night in a different place so far. You can get around the island on the one bus route, zipping from one retreat to another just for a different view of the lake and the two volcanoes that make up the island. You should check out Ometepe on google earth, or at least an atlas, if you can. Its crazy. Its made up of two volcanoes that rise out of Lago de Nicaragua, the bigger called Concepcion and the other Maderas. 35,000 people live in tiny communities around the base of these two volcanoes, fishing from the lake and farming coffee on the slopes. There are a number of awesome hostels dotted around the island, all of which have rooms with great views and suggestions of places to go hiking or biking. It is a place where everything is 'tranquillo' (relaxed, chilled out) and hugely quiet especially because we're now in the lowest of the low season. We've pretty much had most places to ourselves and yesterday when we went swimming in the lake we were the only people there.

So the plan is to spend a few more days here and then get to Costa Rica by mid week.

\Hope everyone is well at home. Grandad, I see Wycombe are now not only top of the table due to GD but are actually a few points ahead. Scott says that we always do this and always muck it up after Christmas. I say this year could be our year! Have you made it to any games?

Speak to you all soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220565720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220565720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1220565720/tpod.html Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:04:31 -0400 The Central America Bit

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Antigua Guatemala, Western Highlands, Guatemala

Han - So I've finally got round to filling you in on our time in Guatemala...

Our first stop in Guatemala was Xela, which we reached after a ridiculously long shuttle (or series of shuttles as it turned out) from Mexico. After finding a reasonable hostel Scott and I were pleased to find that one of the local bars had an entire section in the menu dedicated to gin and so our evening was sorted...

The following day we were taken by private car, with a guide to ourselves, through 3 local villages mostly populated by indigenous people. In the town of Zunil we visited a glassware shop and were able to see behind the scenes at the craftsmen blowing down tubes to expand glass at something like 1500 degrees at the other end. We then moved on to visit the local 'San Simone' - an effigy of a saint believed to act as an intermediary between the people and the Gods - part of Mayan traditions. It was a pretty bizarre spectacle; the effigy itself was a pretty scary looking plastic model with a cigarette in its mouth (the smoke acts as an offering to the Gods) dressed in an American flag and various other pieces associated with the modern world. After visiting a pretty church and a women's cooperative weaving shop in another nearby village, we took a break in some hot springs high up in the mountains. It is without doubt the hottest water I have ever sat in, it was absolutely scorching! Scott loved it but I had to take breaks every few minutes or I'm sure I would have passed out. By the time we were done, the clouds had rolled in and you couldn't see the beautiful views anymore.

The following day we caught 2 buses along windy roads and rolling hills and there were amazing views. Eventually we reached our destination of Panajachel, known by the rest of Guatemala as 'Pana'. It was ridiculously touristy with row after row of stalls selling all kinds of crap, so naturally Claire and I were in shopping heaven much to Scott's frustration... It also meant that there were plenty of places to eat out, along with lovely views of the volcanoes across the Lago de Atitlan. We spent the day exploring the various markets and in the evening we found a bar selling 2 for 1 gins and Claire had her 'rum night'. Needless to say, the following day was a bit of a wash out...

After forcing down some brekkie we concluded that we probably wouldn't make it to the nearby national park so we caught a boat across the lake to the 'Casa del Mundo' - a beautiful hotel set into the cliff face of the hills surrounding the lake. It busted the budget for a couple of days but was totally worth it for the gorgeous view from our bedroom of the lake and the volcanoes on its edge.

The following day we walked around the edge of the lake to the nearby village of San Marcos. I found the 2 and a half hour walk pretty challenging, not least because Claire and I had seriously underestimated the power of the sun, even in the highlands, and jeans were a regrettable choice. We spent the afternoon chilling out on the balconies at the hotel. Later on as the clouds gathered we began to see lightening in the distance. The storm got closer and closer until a huge bolt of lightening struck the lake right in front of us! It was a ridiculous sight, so much so, Scott wouldn't stop talking about it for about an hour. After dinner we spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub watching the lightning in the night sky as it silhouetted the volcanoes.

After returning to Panajachel the following day, we took a bus to nearby Chi Chi to explore the Thursday market. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, much more aimed at tourists rather than locals, so we decided we'd move on to Antigua in the afternoon rather than waiting until the following day.

We caught a 4pm shuttle and, after an insane ride on winding roads and through constant rain that brought us pretty close to death several times, arrived in Antigua in the evening.
Antigua was very reminiscent of San Cristobal and it was easy to spend 5 nights there, with plenty of boutiquey little shops and cafes. After arriving we soon booked a tour to climb volcano Pacaya. It was a gentle-ish walk up the first part of the volcano (in the pouring rain unfortuanately) and we soon reached the peak which was a pretty bizarre experience. With the heavy mist and dark gravel underfoot it had a pretty spooky atmosphere - it felt like we were on another planet. After further climbing and a lot of sliding (the volcanic rocks were extremely slippy to walk on), we finally saw it - real life lava! It was very surreal, I only really believed what I was seeing when the wind blew towards us and it almost burnt your face the air was so hot.

It was the next day that we found the Irish pub that eventually led to my day of doom. It was pub quiz night and I've never before witnessed a more obscure quiz in my life. For example, rounds included 'organic farming and naval lint (belly button fluff)'. 4 litres of beer later we were chatting with one of the winning team's members (we came 4th out of 6 I believe), a Guatemalan called Raphael who had a remarkable knowledge of battles that have taken place in Britain. Several gins later, closing time was upon us and we headed back. We'd decided over the course of the night that we'd stay another day in Antigua so we could watch the Tennis US open final the next day. Which was lucky for me as I could barely make it out of bed in the morning, let alone catch an 8am bus! Definitely the most horrendous hangover I've ever had.

And I'll leave it there - we caught a bus to El Salvador the following day. Sorry I took so long putting this on here!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1221779460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1221779460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hanscottclaire/4/1221779460/tpod.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:51:39 -0400 The Central America Bit

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San Salvador, El Salvador

Scott:

So I think we left it in Antiguia, Guatemala but i'll leave that for now as Han as done it and im sure will whack it on the blog when she gets a chance. We satyed an extra night in Guatemala, as we found an Irish bar, a pub quiz night and a lively local to drink the night away with.

We got the El Salvador some 8 to 10 days ago, I forget. We stopped the night in the little/big town of Santa Ana. The centre was fairly small. The square was surrounded by a newly painted white catherdral and a newly painted theatre. It looked nice, lovely. We also met the first of many real friendly people in El Salvador, Javier. We stayed in his hotel, which was really just his converted home. He spoke Spanish but looked very European so we thought he may have French but it turns out everyone here has a European look about them. He made us feel welcome, use his kitchen to cook and pointed us in the right direction to get the bus in the morning to move on.

We then headed to a little town of Tacuba, which was the nearest town to National Park El Imposible. The place we stayed was another huge converted house but here we ate mamas cooking, played on papas guitar and watched the England game on their sons tele. We relaxed in some hot springs that night (yeas again), to energise yoursleves for the hike in the park the next day. We opted for the downhill hikew, which took us through coffee plantations, grass 7 foot tall and lead to a 60m waterfall. The plan was to swim in it but, one, it was too cold aand two, the last time me and Han went into a waterfall, the waterfall won.

The next day we packed up and left for a beaxch house with Monolo, the son at the house. Hes described in the guide book as nuts and a bit kooky and he was exactly that. He and his friends had rented a beach house for the weekend and we were kindly invited to come along.

Claire: Scott's attention span just ran out. So hello! The beach house Manolo took us to was based, like most other houses and restaurants out here, on a huge verandah area covered with a thatch roofand filled with comfy chairs, hammocks and general places to chill out. Everything is outside - in some hostels even the Tv is outside (just covered with some thatched roofing to protect it from all the storms). Then there was a little pool with water warmer than a bath and then down at the bottom of the garden a gate took us out to the beach. The beach was in the middle of nowhere and in the entire weekend we saw no other tourists, only a few local families enjoying the waves and rock pools. The whole weekend felt like a holiday within a holiday, because Manolo took care of everything and we just had to go along with it and r.e.l.a.x. On Friday night we were joined by a couple he knows from San Salvador, both young hotshot economists with plenty to talk about and plenty of questions for us about the UK, the US, what we think of central america and so on. So it made for pretty interesting conversations in the pool with beers in hand, and the best thing was it never ever got heated; everyone was to darned relaxed.

On Saturday three Guatemalan guys joined the party - again, all hotshots in various fields including law, economics, etc - so again. One of the guys had a TV in his car for Chrissake. This is when we realised we were hanging out with the jetsetting elite of Guatemala and El Salvador. All young, single (well, not married anyway), up-and-coming, rightwing (obviously) yuppies from these places where you hear about such people existing but never feel like you come across any. I saw 'all young', there was one 43 yr old there who was clinging onto his lost youth like I cling onto the hope of ever fitting into a size 8 dress. On Saturday night we had a big party which descended, as most parties do, into general raucousness and lots of salsa dancing.

Sunday came and although it was my birthday none of us were feeling that fresh (mosquito nets dont keep ants out if you're sleeping on the grass, we discovered) we still had a really good day. We all went out for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the sea, and we tried oyster (good if its with lime juice or worcester sauce), I tried whitebait (not good no matter how you try to mask the taste) and for the first time in my life I actually had lobster. Three huge lobster tails for $15, cant really complain! We spent the afternoon on the beach. Having been joined by a guy from the US who was an extreme libertarian, all the political debates got pretty interesting and some of them managed to talk about the Iraq war for a pretty ridiulous amount of time.

On Monday we came back to Juayua, a small town on the Ruta de las Flores further inland. Monday was independence day for Central America, so we were there to see lots of parades going through town and to join in with all the families who had the day off and spent it in the central park. The parades were all small, school-run affairs so you had girls of all ages dancing and boys of all ages playing the trumpets. The oldest boys took on the big bass drum and looked very important with it. It was pretty cool to see.

We couldnt resist the pull of the beach and headed back to the coast the next day. El Zonte is a surfers paradise just a few kilometres along from where we spent the weekend. We found a hostel with a pool and we all spent the day sunbathing (Hana was particularly keen to top up the tan before waving goodbye to the sunshine for a few months when she heads back to the UK tomorrow). Scott went his usual shade of deep red but then aggrivatingly turned lovely brown a few hours later - how unfair!! We all did very well, however. We randomly ended up watching this film called Zohan; i mention it only because it was the most bizarre film any of us had seen for along time and it took us a good twenty minutes to even realise it was Adam Sandler and I want to ask you guys is this actually in the cinema at home???? and how is it going down?

I don't know if you read this, but if you do I just want to wish my cousin Katherine ALL THE BEST with starting uni, which must be happening soon if it hasnt already. Have an awesome time and enjoy the first year while you can because the third year's a complete bitch.

And also welcome to baby Eve, we can't wait to meet you!

xxxxx
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