Forgive us Father for we have sinned. It has been 6 weeks since our last blog.

I’m sorry readers I bet you thought we’d been kidnapped by the cartels. We’ve just been lame. Those of you on Facebook will have seen I’ve been posting albums every couple of weeks, mostly so I don’t have to think of something interesting to write but also because the blog is a faff (that’s English for a pain in the butt). All the pictures need re-sizing before loading onto the blog site (with our band width that can take several hours) and then they are selected one by one together and inserted with a degree of creative text. I know it looks like we’ve knocked it up in minutes but it has been known to take most of the day…hence my lazy ass Face Booking. My suggestion is take a look on FB for the tour in pictures but otherwise here are the highlights and stories from our trip over the last 6 weeks around the rest of Central America.

A definite highlight was finding Lake Bacalar in Mexcio and taking our Kayaks for a spin….the water defies belief .

Meeting’  The Lallys’ ( http://www.thelongwayhome.us ) who own a house down the road in Tunbridge Wells, England but who are currently driving from Canada, to Ireland, via Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina.

Arriving on the Belizian island of Caye Caulker we rode around town without a care in the world as there are no cars. Although Jonah was the victim of a hit and run by a speedy cyclist selling CDs, so maybe a little more care..

Milo meeting Earl, who he asked to take him fishing.

which Earl duly did.

Snorkeling in Shark Ray Alley…yes people they are sharks…I don’t care they are nursing sharks they are still sharks and I GOT IN and yes I got the kids in too!

Next was El Salvador,  Milo very sweetly flew us there. Jonah did an excellent cabin service!

There we were hooked up with Toni through a dear friend. Toni is a passionate Salvadorian, wonderful artist and generally splendid bloke who showed us around, put us up and made our trip amazing.

he took here there and everywhere on the back of his truck… at high speed.. it was bloody brilliant.

we shopped in markets

swum in waterfalls

Ate in sunset restaurants

Although apparently I mustn’t bring in my dog, my gun or hold Russell’s hand. Suits me…

we saw crazy things – this is on a main highway – he is using his feet to press down on bits of old tyre for brakes

The public toilets were also heavily guarded….

Another  hilarious moment was watching a tourist who  had hiked 6 hours down to the base of the volcano crater to spell his name in ten foot letters for the world to see only for the following guy to rock up and change the letters to his when he left!!

Milo made some friends

These guys saw us leaving the restaurant late one night as they were walking home but stopped to serenade us in the moonlight on an empty street, really magical mariachi moment!  Obvi took photo a little after ‘the moment’

We were sad to leave but Costa Rica beckoned… 

and there is a ton of stuff to do there.  We went on coffee tours..

a little bit of caffeine info for you here direct from the source

Wet jungle walks …

Butterfly tours…

chocolate tours…

more wet jungle walks…

horse riding in the jungle…

Hummmmmming bird tour…

Cow trailer rides!@#$**?!?

Snake aquariums

Including this that made us laugh. Deadly? really?

Suspension Bridge walks over the jungle. Miles…and miles….and miles of them.

more horse riding but on the beach this time

We saw stacks of animals, annoyingly not on the expensive tours where we’d paid a fortune to a local guide to track the shy native Costa Rica animals but often just outside restaurants and by the side of the roads and on electrical pylons and I know I’m still wearing the same trousers, what can I say. Russ wanted to pack light!

It rained A LOT…apparently it does that in the rain forest..the clue is in the title.

So I bought some new jeans and went zip lining over the Jungle canopy where Milo rivaled the howler monkeys with his screams of delight.

 

Jonah pretty happy Milo survived.

and white water rafting down the Sarapiqui River

We visited the Volcano, swum in the thermal hot springs and had a strawberry Daquiri at the ‘swim-up’ bar, as instructed by my darling friend Suzy.

Went to an awesome beach party where Milo made a date …

with Rosie…no clue who the third wheel is?!?!

We hired an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle for those not in the know, basically a 4 wheel motorbike) as the roads are unmade tracks and piled us all on. The instructions on the bike stated 1. Not to be used on public roads 2. No passengers 3. Helmets must be worn at all times. That’ll be 4 up to the supermarket then (not very H&S Carla I know, go get a coffee love …we’re all alright)

Milo wore googles to keep out the dust

and the sun shone and shone as we sat on the beach and counted our blessings

 

Only one concerning episode on the journey so far. We had a 2 hr wait for a river taxi in Sierpe. This is what the ”Restaurant, Cafe, Gift Shop and Water Taxi Dock’ looks like….

Russ hired a kayak from the shop, took Milo out for a paddle about on the river and floated back downstream. Getting off the kayak a Dutch lady approached them and said ‘I couldn’t help but notice, especially when you had your hands in the water, the two of you in a single canoe, whether you noticed the crocodile that was following you…..?’

 

The guy who rented out the kayaks, when we asked about crocs said ”yes of course, they are everywhere here, everyone knows, no….?”

For the fan of the foot photos here’s a couple of the latest. ..

We left Costa Rica at 4am on the 4th March and were in 4 countries (Costa Rica, El Salavdor, Belize and Mexico) with 4 modes of transport (boat, plane, jeep and  limo) and made it back to ‘Sunny’ and a swim by 2pm. Not bad!

To our darling friends and families we love you all.

We leave in the morning to cross Mexico and head back to the US, about 100 hours of driving over 7 weeks. So if you don’t hear from us we may have been kidnapped by the cartels!!  Just kidding!