Northern Equador

Imbabura Volcano,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

We journeyed on from Quito to the north and stayed at one of the countrys oldest Haciendas. It was beautiful and we even had an open fire in our room each night which was a real treat. We spent a couple of days there horse back riding through the mountains and then swimming in their pool. very relaxing!

However not ones to rest for too long we moved on to the town of Otavello which every Saturday has the largest indiginous market in Latin America. We spend the morning exploring the amazing colours and smells of the market which seems to engulf the whole town with its offerings of food, animals and clothes then went to a condor park in the afternoon and saw the magnificent creatures and well as many other birds of Prey. We also found time to take a boat trip on a lake formed in the imploded crater of a volcano.

Tomorrow we plan to head down south to do a bit more volcano spotting, this time Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanos in the world (one which Becky´s sister has also climbed). talking of Becky´s sister we would just like to say how proud we are that she has just become one of a team of four who are the first team of all Bristish females to cross the Greenland icecap, they are currently trying to break the record for the fastest crossing too, to find out more see www.arcticfoxes.co.uk.

Lots of love Holland and Becky x

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Mitad de Mondo - Middle of the world,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

On our second Day in Quito we did what every tourist has to and visited the middle of the earth at the equator line. The line itself was pretty dull, just a monument and actually its 250m out (recently discovered with GPS tracking to the embarassment of the French who spent 8 years looking at stars to work out the exact position). It was also discovered recently that the ancient tribes of 1200 years ago had built stone platforms on the exact zero point according to GPS!

We also took a tour to visit the worlds largest inhabited active volcano which is a short ride away. This was spectacular, the guide showed us various medicinal herbs as we acended to 3000 Metres and the view from the top was amazing. 300 residents live in and farm the crater and sometimes at night they can hear the volcano rumbling below them - mad fools. (Check out the photies!)

Quito´s angel

Can we handle the pressure was the question we were asking ourselves as we went from the lowest we have ever been (18m below sea level whilst diving in Panama) to the highest we have ever been (2800m in Equador´s capital Quito) all in one week.

We flew into the worlds second highest capital city Quito on Sunday evening and spent a couple of days in the city aclimatising to the altitude which left us breathless and drousy. Quito isn´t at all how we imagined, the city sits in a valley of the Andes with mountains and volcanos on either side making the city extremly long and thin. Although we didn´t take any chances with safety (we were warned by locals not to go to the old town at night) we felt relatively safe taking public transport to eplore the city and around. The city is also extreemly modern, with better roads and facilities than Costa Rica (something continued through out the rest of Equador that we have seen so far) and (unfortunately) not nearly as cheap as we had hoped! On our first day in Quito we went to to of the citys best view points, a giant statue of an angel which sits on a hill towering over the city and we also climbed the towers of one of the citys most famous churches, which was extremly scary as health and saftey isn´t quite up to european standards and we found ourselves scaling a ladder with nothing between us and a drop to our death, if ever there was an insentive to hold on tight this was it! However the view from the top of the bell tower was worth it (take a look at our recent pictures to see what we mean).

Leatherback turtle

Leatherback turtle,

We walked up and down the beach for three hours before seeing this giant leatherback turtle haul its normally graceful body up the beach to nest. It was an amazing sight but a little sad when the tourists surrounded it and started flashing cameras in it´s face. We got so many sandfly bites on our feet whilst doing so that we looked like we had smallpox. The itching was unbearable for four days after!´

We also managed to complete a few more dives and make some new friends from Plymouth Marcus and Lousia who are running a dive conservation business on the island and are friends with Hollands friend Chris (also from Plymouth).

Panama!

Diving for PADI Certificates,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

On Friday we headed off to the islands of Bocas del Torro in Panama. After some more fun on the local buses we got to the border crossing, which is just a bridge you have to walk over, checking out of Costa Rica on one side and checking into Panama on the other. As we walked across the very high `one lane fits all` bridge a huge bus drove towards us and Holland had to jump out of the way on to the rickety wire rail towards the river, the bus missed his toes by a couple of centimetres and the wire bent horribly but thankfully didn´t give way.

We had to get a taxi boat to the main island ´Isla Colon´ which was like a tour in itself, going though a vast canal system, passing local shacks and locals on `Ray Meers` style canoes. The islands are lovely and we immediately booked on a course to do our PADI Open Water Diving cert. which took three days. Holland, who has dived before took to it like a fish, I was a little more cautious but by the end of the course we had both spotted giant eagle rays, puffer fish and even a brown octupus. We can now dive down to 18 metres anywhere in the world without an instructor which should be fablous in Australia (although I suspect we will still use a guide). The best part about being here is that giant leather-back sea turtles are in nesting season and tomorrow night we will go and (hopefully) see some laying their eggs and help relocate the nest to a safer place. We also have two more fun dives booked and on one we will be able to explore a wreck!

We met our first English people yesterday and they were from Bristol too! we went out for a meal and a few beers last night and will be meeting them again on Saturday for a steak meal before we fly out of San Jose. One of the girls in the group has lived in the city for the past year and so should be able to show us a good night out. We are already reluctant to leave central America but we are sure South America will be just as good.

Lots of Love Holland and Becky xxxxx

Montuzuma

We finally tore ourselves away from Samara and travelled down the Nicoya peninsula to the beach side town of Montezuma. The "road" to Montezuma was more of a farm track and we were glad of our four by four taxi as we crossed several rivers and at one point the road disappeared and we drove along the beach. That said it was worth going `off road` as we glimpsed abundant wildlife including a tribe of black monkeys who happily posed as we took pictures not more that a few metres away. Montezuma is a more touristy town than Samara and we took full advantage of the 2 4 1 cocktails and ended up meeting a lovely French Canadian couple who we partied with until the early hours in the local disco.

The next day the couple we met took us to three beautiful waterfalls but the path to get to them was extremely treacherous and before setting out we passed a sign that warned that several people have died there! We both wondered whether to turn back several times as we scaled shear cliffs but diving into the cool clear pool when we arrived and sitting under the waterfalls made it all worth while. You could even jump off the second waterfall and there was a tarzan swing which we both tried. The next day we walked along a nature trail that dipped in and out of several coves of deserted beached bordered by tropical palms, it was so beautiful, we even saw brown boobies nesting on the beach (really that's what they`re are called).

We left Montezuma on Wednesday intending to travel to the eastern coast of Panama but stopped at the boarder town of Perto Viejo and couldn't resist staying a day as the Caribbean beaches were even more beautiful than the Pacific ones and the water was so clear. We hired some bikes and road around from cove to cove. To save money we have been eating at sodas which are local cafe type places where you can get rice, beans, plantains, eggs, salad and meat for about 2 pounds and after a bit of splurging in the first week are currently on budget - we are hoping Panama will be even cheaper!!

love Holland and Becky xx

On the beach.

On the beach 1,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

Hola from Sunny Costa Rica! We are staying in the most laid back small paradise beach village called Samara on the pacific coast (see photos attached). We only came for a few days but have ended up staying more than a week. Bex's friend is staying here in the most amazing beach house you can imagine right on the beach with 10 cool guys. Ozzies, Irish, Kiwis and Brits (totally random that they happen to be here at the same time as us). The days just drift by in a sort of relaxed daze this place is so chilled. Wild horses and dogs run free on the huge stretch of white beach with their puppies and foals in tow and hardly a tourist in sight! A big bowl of fruit costs about 50p so we gorge our selves on that in the day and fill up on beer in the evening. The days are a lazy mix of sunbathing, swimming, snorkelling, playing cards getting burnt, lazing in hammocks, reading etc. It is baking hot mind. you can get burnt in less than 10 mins! The sea is full of phosphorescents err glow in the dark stuff. If you go out snorkelling at night you can just see it swirling around your hands. There are fire flies in the palm trees. glow worms in the bushes and glow in the dark fish that zip around your feet. no wonder we have ended up staying here a week! I never want to leave but we have a schedule to keep if we are going to make it to the carribean coast Panama to do our PADI diving certificates in the islands there.

click the photo or the links on the right to see the photos and do drop us an email (click the links on the right). Always good to hear from people.

Luv Hol and Becky :o)

Pura Vida Costa Rica

Volcanoes, cloudforests and paradise beaches

DSCN2194,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

On Monday we took a hike up to Arenal Volcano. One of the most active in the northern hemisphere. While we were there it erupted every three minutes or so, throwing molten lava down the sides! As it got dark we could see the rocks of lava exploding in red sparks as they bounced down the mountain towards us. We were far enough away to be safe but at one point it exploded with a huge bang and our guide shouted "Run!" the ba**ard I nearly wet my pants!

After the hike we went on to relax in a spa made up of many pools of naturally hot water flowing from a river from the volcano. There were hot waterfalls and a swim up bar with everything heated from the volcano. Absolute luxury!

We then moved onto Monteverde cloud forest and did a high rope course with swings and zip lines and then treked through the jungle! wow! the wildlife continues to amaze us we have seen howler monkeys, toucans, humming birds, snakes and we even saw a sloth right outside our room and it was so close we could see it carrying its baby on its tummy as it traversed the canopy (slowly of course).

Next we went to Tamarindo on the pacific coast. The beach was beautiful with massive surf. We hired body boards and spent the day surfing. We got properly sunburnt though! We stayed in budget cabinas and saw an enourmous iguana the size of a dog. It looked like a small dinosaur and I half expected it to chase us down and bite our ankles. We moved on from Tamarindo on the local buses. The journey involved three different local buses and five hours of travelling. Each time we had to change bus we had to hike half way across town to find the next bus. Hot and arduous sums it up! The buses are so crowded that there are even people hanging out of the doors.

It was all worth it though because we really have arrived in paradise! We are now in Playa Samara. It is small quiet and tranquil. The beach here is perfect and palm fringed and the water is warm and calm. Awesomely enough Becky's friends have got a beach front house here which sleeps 10 people! They have all just finished a ski season in the US so are winding down and partying hard! The house backs onto the beach and has hammocks in the garden to chill out in. We are going to stay here and relax for a week before even thinking about getting back on the sweaty bus.

More photos will follow of the beach and house but the Internet is so slow we are having problems uploading them.

Holland and Becky xx