Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Armadillos aren't only in Texas!!!!!!!


I arrived to San Jose at exactly 9:38 in the pm. A mass of people and Limor greeted me. A quick cab ride took us to a Norwegian and a hostel. We enjoyed reggae music at a local bar that served surprisingly delicious burgers. Half a handle of sugar cane rum later we called it a night. The next morning we ventured to a volcano by the name of Poas. No magma or lava there, but plenty of beauty and lush vegetation. We went back to San Jose to hit up the markets to haggle the locals on gift purchases. Miss Tiffany finally reunited with us from Nicaragua. We went to see a band perform and what turned into a fire show. The street was closed by barricades of people that surrounded a 10-man drum circle. Onlookers got into the show by offering juggling performances, dancing and even a mesmerizing fire lit hula-hoop act. El Salvador was most definitely representing. The next morning we got on a bus - much to our stomach's dismay - to go to Monte Verde (green mountain). A treacherous bus ride took us to the top of a mountain that lived up to its name. After a hearty dinner and laughing like little girls all night (yes we kept the rest of the hostel awake) we got on yet another crazy bus ride. Everywhere I looked around me offered fields filled with coffee plants, fresh fruits and butterfly gardens. I couldn't help but think the free market might not be so free. We continued to the very, very top of the mountain to a little slice of green heaven. My mission was to see monkeys and, by God, I was going to see monkeys. As we entered the bosque nuboso (cloud forest) my wish was fulfilled - it was only a flash of a tail and a brief appearance, but I saw a monkey. As we continued deeper into the forest I embraced the absolute silence. A calm serenity seemed to rest on top of the clouds. Later that day a jockey derby led us into the sunset - Tiffany rode the rebellious Pamela, Limor rode sweet Paloma and I rode on the valiant Chiqitin. My thighs regretted the ride later on, but the pain was nothing a little sugar cane rum couldn't take care of. The next morning we took a six hour bus ride on the lovely public bus system to a coastal town called Puertoarenas. We boarded a ferry with a 6-pack of Imperial (CR's national beer) and a Swede. That was my first encounter with the Costa Rican sun. When we arrived on land we still had another two hours to make it to our final destination, Montezuma. Our room was a mere 25 paces from the beach with a restaurant/bar attached - how convenient. It was a breathtaking view, the kind you see in postcards, but never really get to see, but I was seeing it. Everything was so natural - the people used the earth around them and were quite content without the commodities I was so attached to. The next day we headed out to Tortuga Island for some snorkeling where I came up close and personal with another world. We saw sting rays, star fish, puffer fish and all the other National Geographic characters. We intended to continue on to Miguel Antonio, but only made it as far as Jaco because I wanted to see the beach one more time before the sun went down. We spent my last night with pitchers of Caipirinha (a.k.a. Capoeira) and nostalgia as we reminisced over the last week. Thanks for a wonderful time, my beautiful friends. Pura vida! (blog by "the" Laurette)

Saturday, February 3, 2007

On to Nicaragua

It has been about a month since the last posting, hmm that is about right for Nica time! We landed in Nicaragua (San Juan del Sur) around January 20th. Before I go into our travels in Nica thus far, there are a few highlights from Guatemala that cannot be missed. From Antigua (Guatemala), we traveled to Lago Atitlan, a crater lake surrounded by volcanoes. The sunrise hike in the dark (4AM) was more than worth the effort to catch the sunrise below:



From San Pedro (the city in lights, photo above) on the Lago, we visited my favorite place so far, Semuc Champey. This mystical valley portrays forces of nature and serenity in unison. The fierce underground river creates blue and green aqua pools above ground (pics below).



La Cueva de Las Marias was attached to this park. We had to guide (with a guide, of course) through the underground cave by candle light, which became difficult while climbing, swimming, and near gushing waterfalls! The cave spelunking was unbelievable!

Now we are back in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. The beaches and surfers are plenty, and the country is speckled with breathtaking volcanoes and lakes. We took a 1 week trip up the coast and visited beautiful Granada (pic below) on Lake Nicaragua.



More to come...

Friday, January 5, 2007

Love in Guatemala

I know what you are thinking, but...we did not a find specific love in Guatemala, more so a love for the people and land of Guatemala. Guatemala is a constant reminder that despite extreme poverty and below subsistence living conditions, the people carry a large smile and warm heart. I could (will) learn a lot from the people in Guatemala. I want to spend more time here, hopefully volunteering my time while gaining just as much from the people in return.

The land is lush and beautifully green, so far (picture below is from the Rio Dulce).


From the city of Antigua, we took a day trip to hike one of the active volcanoes, called Pacaya. Thanks to our honed hiking skills from Santa Barbara, we made it up the mountain!



The guide was even impressed by the lava explosions. The entire group spent so much time watching the show that we had to hike down in the dark...scary (especially when the guide jumped out of the bushes at me and I grabbed Tiff for dear life)!

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Turneffe Island Resort...incredible

Tiff and I arrived to Turneffe Island Resort which is one of the atolls off of mainland Belize. I pinched myself wondering is this place was a dream or reality. We had our own island in the Caribbean, you could walk around it in about 20 minutes. We had just come from Black Cave tubbing and zip-lining through the jungles of Belize, as if that wasn´t the greatest time.

Over the last week, we took about 16 dives which included a 130 foot dive in the Blue Hole. I made friends with about 10 sharks, harmless, he! Tiffs family was incredible and we all had so much fun together. We were sad to go, but happy to begin the next leg of the trip.

After a series of boat rides and a scary propeller plane, we landed in Guatemala (by boat). We are now in Livingston, Guatemala. I can´t believe it but we just ran into two friends from Texas (sort of from TX, Mic-Israel and Pablo-Spain). We are off to celebrate New Years in Livingston and are heading up the Rio Dulce for some Jungle fun tomorrow, or maybe not! What a tough life! We miss and love you.

p.s. I tried to add photos but it didn´t work, so image a beautiful white sand island with aqua water. :)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Houston...or Belize-BUZZ?


Buzz off hat, buzz off shirt, buzz off you bugs!
So we are preparing for our journey and wanted to sport our matching Buzz gear, don't be jealous of the hot new gear. I blame the malaria pills for all the buzzing in my head. Anywho, we are soon off (in a few hours) and we wanted to send out a H-Town style shout out...Holla!

See you bugs later! We will be posting more stories and pictures when we get a chance.
Tiff and Limor

p.s. are we in Houston or Belize, hard to tell?