Back to Lima

Today we flew back to Lima after a restless night in Cuzco due to lots of fireworks and rain storms, the flight back was pretty smooth and once we arrived we were pleased to find that our luggage hadn't been stolen. We chilled at the hotel for a while and then went out for a chinese, as usual we ordered far too much and asked for the leftovers which we took out and then wandered around Lima trying to find a family to give them to, and as usual we couldn't find one person who looked in need of a meal... in the end we did find a lady who was begging in the street and she looked very pleased, and somewhat bemused to receive a massive bag of chinese takeaway! It's also halloween here and the people really embrace halloween and everyone dresses up and walks the streets with pumpkins and little bags and all the shops and hotels give the kids sweets, it's really nice and even Sam got a lolly.

Tomorrow we will book our bus ticket to Nazca and Sam and Will are going to surf.

Here are a few musings on Peru so far:

1) It smells of wee

2) The people drive like lunatics

3) The indigenous people have beautiful faces and the women have long plaits

4) It has cool places to visit

Hope you're all well. Here's a pic of me and Will drinking Coca tea to combat the altitude sickness - I didn't realise it was made from cocaine leaves... still it made me smile!!

Cuzco

Today we drove from Ollantaytambo to Cuzco - we hadn't booked any where to stay but for once we aren't carrying the enormous surf boards so we were able to just turn up and find a place to stay. In the end we found a little hotel with a nice room with three beds and a bathroom with a bath (but only luke warm water!) It also has a little balcony which overlooks a lot of rooftops, not quite the amazing view that we have been treated to for the last few days but it's clean and cheap and in a nice area of Cuzco.

After we arrived we called our families and spent a couple of hours catching up then we went for a walk around Cuzco to see what the town is like. To be honest I am really pleased that we stayed the extra nights in Ollante as Cuzco is very very touristy, when you walk through the street people jump on you and try and drag you into their restaurant - it's also really busy. It is pretty but nothing like we have been used to with the huge mountains - there is a main plaza and this has the requisite Spanish church, but to be honest we have seen a few of these now - Cuzco reminds us a bit of Guatemala. There was a lot of dancing in the plaza by women in traditional dress but we weren't sure what they were celebrating.

The main thing we will remember Cuzco for is the worst meal so far... we sat in a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the main plaza which was pretty beautiful. We ordered our food, Will had an oriental chicken dish, I had a steak and Sam had alpaca (of course)! Will's was gross, just a mountain of plastic noodles and my steak was really tough and dry, Sam loved his alpaca. For those of you who haven't tasted alpaca I think it's disgusting, it's really strong and tastes quite bitter to me. After the disappointing meal we went to McDonalds for desert and Sam and Will ordered an ice cream, the ice cream was off and tasted horrible so we asked for our money back.

All in all we are underwhelmed by Cuzco, it just feels like a huge tourist trap and nothing like the real Peru which we have just experienced. I have attached another picture from Machu Picchu as we have loads. Tomorrow we fly back to Lima, hopefully all our stuff will still be there and then we will start to plan the road to Santiago. Definately including Nazca and Arequipa with Colca Canyon to see the condors.

Machu Picchu

We have just got back from an amazing day at Machu Picchu, infact Sam said 'it was one of the best days of his life!.' We caught the train at 8:30 from Ollantaytambo station and spent an hour and a half winding our way through the Andes which were beautiful. The train was very nice, I think it's owned by Orient Express, and we were even treated to a little snack and soft Peruvian music that played as we wound our way through the valley and up into the cloud forest. Eventually we stopped in 'Aguas Calientes' and here we bought a bus ticket and our entry to Machu Picchu. The bus journey took us up the mountain along narrow windy roads and took 20 minutes, not a pleasant journey if you are afraid of heights but a brilliant journey if your not - the views here were even better than those from the train.

We entered Machu Picchu and saw the first Inca house which you had to pass through to enter and then as you turned the corner you saw Machu Picchu, just like in the pictures...an old settlement of houses and terraces with the big mountain behind, the sun was shining and I think that first sight of the settlement is one that none of us will forget. We walked up as high as we could go and then sat on the terraces overlooking the ruins and ate our packed lunch. We had picked one up in the morning from our favourite cafe here and had a sandwich a pasty a muffin an apple and a drink and it was the best packed lunch I have ever had. There was no-one around and it was really peaceful just surrounded by the mountains, we read the guide book and found out about the history of Machu Picchu.

We had a couple of hours to explore before our train home so we walked back down into the settlement and tagged on to the end of various guided tours so we could hear about the history of the ruins. We were surprised by how recent they were as the Incas were around in the 1400's and we had thought they were older - Will loved the architecture and the massive blocks that fit together with no cement and form a perfect wall!! We also took thousands of pictures because everywhere you turned there was a perfect view.

It's really hard to encapsulate how breathtaking it was up there - it's an expensive trip but well worth the money. Eventually we caught a return bus and got on the train home and got back in time for tea. We are all very tired after our days excursion so we are heading out for tea and then to bed.

Yesterday we also walked to another Inca ruin this time 5 minutes from the house, this was also an old Inca temple but much smaller than Machu Picchu - we had a lovely day wandering around the site and then walked around a traditional Peruvian market with loads of trinkets and old Peruvian artefacts - we treated ourselves to a couple of things which was really nice. All in all we have loved this part of the trip, infact it's been my favourite part so far without a doubt. Pic above of Machu Picchu and other pics from the previous days below.

Ollantaytambo

Sorry for the rubbish updates recently (and lack of pictures) but things have been super hectic recently. I am now sat in the reception area of Apu (he he) Lodge whilst Sam and Will are still in bed. I got up to try and book our tickets to Macchu Picchu but the internet isn't working for their site so thought I would update. As I sit here I have a view of the Andes, it's one of those completely awe inspiring sights!

Yesterday we caught the plane from Lima to Cuzco at 4:40 am and landed an hour later in Cuzco. A taxi picked us up and drove us through the Andes to Ollantaytambo. As we stepped off the plane myself and Will both felt very dizzy, Cuzco is really high 3,000 + so we had to take it really easy to combat the effects of altitude sickness...we stayed at the hotel and had a sleep and then Sam was sick!! But in true Sam style after 10 minutes he was fine and we walked down to the main plaza for some lunch. It was a great day to arrive as they had lots of dancing in the plaza and everyone was dressed in traditional costume. We sat in a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the event. Later we walked around Ollantaytambo - in the hills around there is other evidence of Inca settlements and the whole place is just surrounded by gigantic mountains, the light reflects off them and it's beautiful. There is also a little market full of colourful trinkets and ornaments and it's so cheap it's amazing. As ever we are off season so whilst there are some tourists here, it's not too busy.

Now we are going to walk down to the station and book the train tickets to do Macchu Picchu tomorrow, this is probably a better idea as it will give us another day to acclimatise to the altitude.

Cuzco...

It's a super quick update today to say that last night we sat in the hotel and the Japanese Surfing Team were also staying there. One of them approached Sam and asked if he would like a wetsuit and then he gave him a free Oakley wetsuit, turns out he is sponsored by Oakley - Sam was very very excited! He repaid them by showing them a magic trick and all the Japanese cheered.

We are now in Lima and have to be up at 2:40 to go to the airport so are just getting ready for bed...so that's it for now - short but sweet I know.

Peru...

We are now into our 4th day in Peru. At first it was quite a culture shock moving from the tropical rainforests of Costa Rica and Central America to the arid, cloudy environment that is Peru, but I think we have just about acclimatised. We are now staying in Punta Hermosa which is a beach south of Lima, it is a place which has realised that tourists are on their way but not quite caught up to them yet so there are a lot of half finished hotels which look like they will be beautiful in a couple of years but not just yet.

After a couple of days of searching we did find a hotel which seemed to fit our bill, from the outside it's beautiful, has a pool overlooking the sea, loads of cool art and the Japanese Olympic surfing team are staying here... however when you get through the doors things aren't quite what they seem. We are sleeping in a dorm room (to ourselves) with 3 sets of bunk beds (yes, bunk beds!) and a shared bathroom!! At first it was a nightmare but we are getting used to it. The best thing was coming to the hotel which we did in a little tuk tuk, with all our luggage and boards strapped on top, it was brilliant and we laughed all the way here (mainly because we thought it would fall over everytime we went over a bump!). On the positive side, there is an amazing seafood restaurant nearby and so we have been dining on fresh calamari and octopus, with drinks the meal has cost the equivalent of £15! Another positive is that Sam has found some kids to play with and spends the evenings playing football by the sea whilst we have a beer. It has been great for him, not only is he playing but also realises that he knows a lot more Spanish than he thought and is able to communicate quite well.

It has been a stressful few days as we have moved around quite a bit recently and booking accommodation is one of the most stressful things of all. It takes so long to research on the internet and then to call from skype and try and communicate in broken Spanish... but we are getting there! The next move is back to Miraflores in Lima tomorrow where we need to go to the travel agents to confirm the flights, then the next morning we fly to Cuzco (safer than taking the bus), we stay in Ollantytambo for two days in a place called Apu lodge (which sam thinks is hilarious). We stay here to acclimatise to the altitude as it's lower than Cuzco. Then we go up to Macchu Pichu, from there we go back to Cuzco and then fly back to Lima on Sunday!!! Whew!!! Now it's all pretty much booked I feel alot calmer and we are all really looking forward to seeing the Inca trail and a bit of Peru's culture.

Peru is really lovely and the people are very nice, with beautiful faces! The fact that we are by the ocean and can look one way and see desert and the other we see ocean is amazing, there is also loads of wildlife and we are on the look out for dolphins at the moment as there are quite a few pods around here... anyway must go and do Sam's English now... believe it or not he is on the computer next to me right now doing a maths game (voluntarily!!) home schooling is amazing...he is also really really well and loving the travels... me and Will may be a bit stressed at the moment but Sam is definately not stressed, bless him... will add picture of tuk tuk later.

Peru

Well we made it to Peru without a hitch, got up and had a huge brekkie and then got a taxi to the airport, then we caught the flight which was about 4 hours and landed in Peru at 3:15 - so now we are only 6 hrs behind the UK.

The taxi picked us up from the airport and brought us to the hotel. We were greeted with a glass of juice and then shown to our room, which is ENORMOUS!! Seriously, it's a suite, complete with king size bed, huge TV, kitchen, dining table etc. The people are lovely and really have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. They recommended a place for us to eat tonight in Miraflores and so we got a taxi there (Mum you would love it here). Miraflores overlooks the ocean and is super swanky, with amazing shops and nice restaurants and there is also lots of culture around, tomorrow we are going to see a 2,000 year old pyramid which is 5 blocks away. It also seems quite a bit cheaper here which is brilliant.

So it's 9pm now and time to settle into our amazing, huge bed and read and then get some sleep - good night all (ps Lima is ffffffreezing!!) x

On to Peru...

Just a quick post to say that San Jose has been lots of fun, we visited the national museum and learned about the original native Costa Ricans, the invasion of the Spanish and then Costa Rican independence, well... I learned about it and Sam and Will lost interest half way through.

San Jose is a sprawling city with lots of shoe shops!! Weird isn't it but there are lots of shoe shops here, it's very cosmopolitan and very busy compared to where we have come from. The strangest thing is walking into shops and hearing Christmas music and seeing all the decorations up - honestly we haven't even thought about Christmas yet, it's like living in a time warp.

The hotel is very nice and it is absolute luxury having a bath every night, last night me and Will had a 'date' and sat in the bar and drank a bottle of red whilst Sam was in bed watching a film, very romantic!! Actually we missed Sam lots and came to bed and jumped on him (poor Sam!)

Today has been really stressful as we tried to book accommodation in Peru. Because we are travelling close to the weekend all the mid range price places are booked and it's really not as cheap as you would think to book accommodation in Lima, it's actually cheaper to book a hotel in San Jose. But finally we found a place called the Casa Bella Boutique Hotel and we are booked in there for 2 nights, we fly tomorrow at 10:30 so have to be up by 6am so I leave you with a picture from the Waterfall at Montezuma... good night all. x

Canopy tour and San Jose

So we all survived the canopy tour (just). We were driven up into the rainforest where we had to negotiate nine zip wires of varying lengths. We were strapped into a harness and given a hat and gloves and told that the gloves acted as our brakes and we should sit in the harness with one hand on the wire (behind the pully bit) and when we wanted to slow down and this should only be at the end, we were to use the glove as a brake on the wire, we should also never take our hand off the wire (although one of us may have forgotten this).

The view from the wires was amazing because we were in the top of the canopy (I wouldn't like to guess how high). We didn't see much wildlife because we were whizzing along so quickly but it was very exciting and Sam as usual absolutely LOVED it. After wire 6 we walked down some steps and came out at the most beautiful waterfall with a plunge pool where we swam for half an hour and cooled down, it was deserted and really fresh. Then we had 3 more wires to go and, it could be that on the last one I was so relieved that Sam had made it to the end that I sort of forgot the, 'Don't take your hand of the wire' bit and crashed into the end... but it's ok, I just bruised my shoulder a bit, no serious damaged done. The problem is that once you take your hand off the wire you start to spin a bit and it's a bit hard to remember which hand went where when your whizzing along above the tress so I just decided to crash land into the platform instead!! But that aside we had a brilliant day and all really enjoyed the tour.

The next morning we needed to be up at 6 to catch the direct bus to San Jose, we asked about 5 locals what time the bus left and they all gave us a different answer so we aimed for the earliest time of 6.30, We had a few options for getting to San Jose. The private shuttle would cost $45 each and take 3 hours or the local bus would cost $10 each and cover the same route so we opted for this. At the bus stop we were informed that the bus couldn't get through as there had been lots of rain in the night, so a taxi would drive us to Cobano to pick up the bus, it was then a 1hr journey to the ferry port, a 1hr ferry crossing and then 2 hrs to San Jose. On the final part of the trip, Sam and me were watching Harry Potter when Sam suddenly stiffened as there was a huge cockroach climbing up his knee, he's so brave, if that was me I would have run screaming from the bus but he just waited until it crawled off and up the wall, still we were a bit tense for the rest of the ride and changed seats pretty quickly!

I was a bit worried that the Gran Hotel may be a faded beauty but when we pulled up in the taxi we weren't disappointed. From the outside it's very Grand, lots of US presidents, Pele and Julio Inglesias have stayed here! It also has a very central location and I think we were all pleased to arrive somewhere with a bit of luxury (and a bath). The room itself was quite small but comfortable and I realised that there was no plug and not enough towels so, really wanting a bath I went down to speak to reception, Sam also realised the telly didn't work so I asked them about this, honestly after roughing it for 2 months, you want your moneys worth when you do splurge. The receptionist was lovely and sent the maid with a plug, another towel and a new telly. All set now I went to run my bath and realised that there was no hot water. After travelling for hours and wanting to soak my shoulder I was not too happy about the situation and stomped back down stairs. 'Ok, I now have a towel and a plus, but no hot water', I said to the receptionist with a fake smile. 'I know this may seem unimportant but I have been travelling for 2 months and NEED a bath.' 'Yes', she said, 'it's an old hotel and the water doesn't always run hot in all the rooms.' 'Then I would like a room that does have hot water.' I said still gritting my teeth and still fake smiling because I thought if she said no I might cry... but she realised the seriousness of the situation and gave me another key. So we now have a slightly bigger room with hot water. This morning we are going to get our moneys worth and stuff ourselves with the free buffet breakfast and then explore San Jose and visit the National Museum. Picture of the Zip lining above!

Montezuma

Today we caught a taxi to Montezuma which is about 40 mins down the bumpy road from Santa Teresa. The main reason for coming here was to do the zip-wire tour through the rainforest - but now we're here I realise it's really bloody high and involves something like 9 zip wires, ending with a swim at the waterfall - of course Sam thinks this sounds brilliant. I however wish I would stop having these bright ideas that scare the shit out of me, 'I know, let's go round the world, what fun!!', 'I know, let's go ziplining in the rainforest!!' when will I learn? So that's booked for 9:00 tomorrow morning!

Montezuma is a cross between Santa Teresa and Tamarindo, in that it has more shops etc but also still quite a bit of rainforest (not as claustrophobic as Santa Teresa though). We walked down to the beach but it's really dirty with loads of plastic etc on the shoreline and doesn't look that appealing - so much for 'Pura Vida' (Pure Life) which is what EVERYONE says to you here in Costa Rica, 'Pura Vida man, Pura Vida'. We have checked into our hotel, which seems ok, we have two double beds and an en-suite bathroom - It's Saturday night though so we hope it wont be too noisy. We are heading out tonight to a restaurant on the sea front for tea. I think one of the problems at the moment is that we are travelling in 'green season' when a lot of the tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants close down, as a result walking around here is a bit like walking along Blackpool pier in winter when there are only a few local restaurant owners, a few hangers on and the occasional tourist.

Our next stop will be San Jose and we have just booked a deal through Expedia to stay in the Gran Hotel (I hope it's as grand as it sounds, I hope it has a bath and free samples, I hope it has napkins and I hope there are people dressed smartly quaffing champagne). I can't believe Will let me book it but I think he's building me up for the freezing desert of Peru, he keeps dropping hints about how cold it is there. I'm sorry if this sounds like another moaning blog post - I am having a really nice time - I guess the gloss and novelty may have worn of a little and I'm not 100% certain how I feel about Costa Rica, 'Pura Vida Man, Pura Vida'. I'll update on the canopy tomorrow (hopefully)!!!!!

Life in the rainforest...

Life in the rainforest is actually a bit boring. I mean it's very nice to see the weird and wonderful creatures, the colourful birds and the huge, prehistoric looking iguanas, but honestly, after a while it's boring. And it's constantly hot, so even taking a walk on the beach is not that enjoyable because you just end up dripping in sweat... and to be honest even if you do walk down the beach there's not much to see except more beach (I think i'm turning into Tom Hanks when he got marooned on a desert island, went mental and made friends with a football). It's also constantly humid so there always seems to be a layer of water/sweat on everything and there are loads of mozzies (our room - beautiful as it is doesn't have mozzie nets at the windows etc) so I am covered in really itchy bites! We do have aircon in the room but it's a battle between Will, who likes to sleep in an ice box and me and Sam who like a comfortable temperature. The aircon also smells really odd.

Santa Teresa is also (as you will have gathered from the journey here) quite a way from anywhere and the main activities are all in Montazuma where we are heading next. It's off season so there aren't that many people around other than the locals and I don't know, it just feels a bit different here - the weather and the trees and the isolation of the place make it feel a bit claustrophobic (I haven't even been inspired to do yoga here)... there, I feel better for that whinge - but the good news is that we have plans to escape. In two days we will head to Montazuma where we will do the zip wire canopy tour which looks brilliant and visit the waterfalls and possibly the butterfly farm which is meant to be lovely. We will stay there for two days and then head to San Jose (the capital) for two nights and then we fly from San Jose to Lima, Peru for our final month in South America (we have been travelling for two months tomorrow!). Peru should be fun and we have quite a cultural tour coming up there.

Other than my moaning everything is fine, we have all got on brilliantly so far and are having lots of fun together, seeing the sights, learning lessons, playing cards and chatting about random things. Sam's ear infection is much better, just a little bit of redness but hopefully tomorrow he will be back in the sea. Will has stopped moaning and I have started moaning and as usual Sam never moans - but he is a know it all. So there you go - have a lovely day all. I leave you with a view of yet more bloody rainforest!

General stuff

Last night we had dinner in our room and then the unthinkable happened...Sam picked up his pad and spent about an hour drawing a picture, completely unprompted! I know when I read about home schooling people commented that this kind of thing might happen, that the kids begin to self teach and want to learn, but I never truly believed it. And this was on top of learning science, reading about earthquakes from the Bill Bryson book and reading Harry Potter twice in one day!

His ear infection is clearing up now so all being well he will be back in the sea on Friday, we have picked up a couple more antibiotics to completely clear the infection. Santa Teresa is pretty nice, we had a tropical storm tonight, complete with thunder and lightning... I do think I have some strange connection to some magnetic force here because I can smell strange things and I felt very odd during the thunderstorm - I'm sure my Dad will have some extravagant scientific explanation for it!

Will is fine he got up this morning and asked Sam to cut his hair, quickly followed by saying he would be really annoyed if he didn't do it well. I pointed out that you can't ask a 12 year old to cut your hair and be cross if it goes wrong and so I decided to do it myself (well was more forced into doing it) it was very high pressure and Will was his usual calm self!!! but fortunately it turned out ok and he actually looks quite handsome now.

There's not a lot else to report right now, tomorrow we are going to take a trip to Mal Pais which is a nature reserve and hopefully see some more crazy wildlife. I leave you with a picture of Sam and Will trying to catch Lobster in the rock pools for dinner (they failed so we had super noodles with chicken and aubergine sauce - very Costa Rican) - check out the rainforest behind - our house is just behind the big tree.

Settling in

We are now settling in nicely to life in our new home. Today consisted of pancakes with chocolate sauce and pineapple cooked by Sam, a wander through the rockpools trying to find the elusive octopus and instead finding loads of crayfish and seeing lots and lots of iguanas and lizards of different shapes and colours. Sam studied English (horror) and a bit of maths and had his ear poked prodded and cleaned out to get rid of the gunk which is oozing out of it!! The beach here is absolutely gorgeous, white sand, palm trees and not that many people. The town itself seems pretty quiet and a lot of places are closed as it's the green season. But the best bit about it is that it's beach meets jungle, this morning I lay in the hammock in our wooden balcony overlooking the sea and gazed through the binoculars at all the wildlife in the trees around.

It made me think, it's strange moving from one place to another, I don't think any of us particularly enjoys the moving process as it's such a palaver with all the bags and boards.

Once we get to a place the first day is usually a bit odd as we try to find our bearings, hope that we have made the right choice of accommodation and settle into a routine, but it's amazing how quickly you adapt. Once we've hit our stride we then tend to scope out the area and find good (cheap) things to do. There is a canopy tour here so we will be putting that on the list... but then as soon as we arrive it's time to start looking into the next destination... is it good for Sam or is it a party town, how to get there, where to stay and what there is to do there. The Lonely Planet thorn tree forum is great for this as it's full of people who have done these things and will answer questions. For example we are now wondering how do we get from Lima to Cuzco, by bus or by plane and when we get there where do we stay to avoid altitude sickness - all questions you would never really give a second thought to but which take quite a bit of planning! So tonight will be planning the next step, watching a film on the computer and searching for Sam's ipod case which he seems to have lost.

The quake!!!

Last night after being rattled to death in the car for 6 hours we decided to go out for food rather than cook and found a little place over the road. We sat down and ordered our food and played a few games of cards. Suddenly I began to feel really strange, 'is it cold' I asked Sam and Will, they both looked at me as if I was crazy because it was obviously still really warm even if it was 8:00 at night, 'look' I said, and all of the hairs down my arms were stood on end and I felt really chilly. I thought perhaps I was just really hungry and feeling a bit run down after the drive but about 30 seconds later I felt really odd. 'stop pushing the table' I said to will, who looked at me again as if I was crazy. 'I'm not pushing it' he said. My head felt as if it were moving and I felt as if the chair was rocking... this is it I thought, I'm going to faint! and then I realised that it wasn't my head moving, it was the floor and we were experiencing an earthquake!! Suddenly I wasn't cold anymore, quite the opposite, I was boiling. The woman turned on the news and we saw the presenters trying to read the news, but the table they were sat at was shaking, 'where are they?' I asked, 'In San Jose' she said, which is about 3 hours from here and they seemed to have it worse than us so I figured we weren't at the epicentre. The quake itself didn't last that long and wasn't actually that scary but I couldn't eat my food when it arrived because I was so worried that another, bigger tremor might occur - it's the first time I've been properly scared since we set off. Sam on the other hand was very very excited and kept saying that it was 'cool' and he hoped we would have a second, bigger one!!

Anyway the night passed with no further traumas (apart from when I went to the loo and a massive cockroach ran out - but will caught it). Today we have eased gently into Santa Teresa living and are settling in nicely. Sam is reading Harry Potter, Will has just got out the sea and I'm about to make a pasta... happy days (and hopefully no quakes tonight!)

Road trip...

At 9:00 this morning we set off in our 4x4 for Santa Teresa. The road was fine for the most part of the journey and it was really good fun to have our own transport and to go at our own pace (which as most of you know is slow). We stopped off in a Burger King for breakfast and Sam was amazed as it was a big RV which had been converted into a fast food restaurant with tables etc... After a couple of hours of driving we came to a dirt track and had to follow this for about 40K, it wound up through the mountains and was filled with potholes and deep rivulets where the heavy rains had washed away the path, fortunately it has been dry here for about a week so there was no flooding or muddy rivers but we were pleased to be in a 4x4 because otherwise we wouldn't have got through. Now I hate bumpy tracks, it feels like your bones are falling apart and your teeth are being shaken out but it's Sam's favourite thing in the world and he was whooping and hollering all the way. At one point as we went over the mountain, surrounded by lush rainforest and a big golden eagle flew overhead... that was Sam's favourite thing. Eventually after about 6 hours of being jolted and bumped along we arrived in Santa Teresa, we expected a sleepy surf community but it's actually pretty busy (anything's busy compared to Nicaragua). We then drove around for about an hour trying to find somewhere to stay, the first places were really really nice but cost $90 per night, way over budget, then we saw a room that had a kitchen and a TV but was quite small, eventually we found a really nice room with three beds and a kitchen, it also has air con, hot water, wifi and best of all a massive private balcony with tables and chairs and a hammock which overlooks the sea. The sea is about 1 minute away!

There are lots of things to do here, canopy tours, horseriding etc, it's also by a nature reserve so that should keep Sam happy. We are now sat in the room, Sam is overtired and being super annoying, Will has a headache and is being annoyed with Sam and I am ignoring them both and writing this!

Oh and a big happy birthday to the OAP Bill whose birthday it is today, sorry we didn't get chance to call... Picture above is the view from the mountain that we drove over earlier.

The boat trip

Before you read this make sure you check Sam's blog, he describes this trip really well... I hope it's because of all the English and reading he's been doing. So unfortunately Sam has a bit of an ear infection which means he will have to stay out of the surf for 7 days. He has a fungal ear infection and has antibiotics and drops...it's not as bad as it sounds as he has no pain it's just a bit swollen and itchy, going to the doctors is pretty expensive here (thank god for travel insurance!) So we decided to take this opportunity to do a trip we had been planning for a few days, we can't do trips like this all the time because of the expense but this was definitely worth it.

We picked up the boat at the river mouth in Tamarindo and it took us out onto the river which was surrounded by mangrove trees, the trip lasted two hours and on the way we saw crocodiles, Ibis, Herons, Kingfishers, Crabs and at one point we got off on an island and we saw lots of howler monkeys with their babies... apparently Howler Monkeys live in a pack with ine alpha male and lots of females, when the babies are born the male kills all the male chimps so that he has no competition. We also saw termite nests and the guide told us that parakeets lay their eggs in the nests so that when the chicks hatch they eat the termites! It was a really good trip and Sam loved it as one of his favourite things (beside surfing) is to see the nature.

We have also hired a car which we pick up tomorrow to drive down to Santa Teresa - it's a 4x4 because we hear the road is pretty crap (could be Nicaragua part 2!) so we will set off tomorrow morning and it should take about 4 hours. We have had a great time in Tamarindo, much better than anticipated and are a bit sad to leave but Santa Teresa is meant to be beautiful and has lots and lots of nature for Sam. We are now off to see the band play in the pub round the corner so I leave you with a picture from the boat trip.

Virus alert...

Well it has been another beautiful day in Costa Rica, we have had glorious sunshine all day. Will was up and surfing by 6am with a guy who runs one of the tourist offices here, an American called Bill, when he was in the water he met a few more people, one from the UK who has also taken a year out with his wife and 2 year old but they are living in Costa Rica for a year. Will surfed til 9:00 and then we went for breakfast on the beach and Sam had his usual pancakes. After that we came home and Sam did some English and it was his best session yet, he's really learning to look at the language used in a text and to work out how that creates the atmosphere - we looked at an extract from Wuthering Heights (which I think he kind of enjoyed). His next task will be to write a creative piece with a horror theme!!

Then he had his usual couple of hours in the water. His surfing (like his English) has really come on a lot in the last few days and he is now paddling out back with Will (for those of you who don't speak surf it means that he goes further out, where he can't stand up) and he's really good at it.

We are still not sure what our next move will be... we think perhaps we will either rent a car and drive to Santa Teresa or take the bus to Playa Hermosa further down the coast, the problem is we aren't very good at making a decision about it and to be honest we are quite happy here - the waves are good for Sam and Will and we are starting to meet more people in the village and have been invited to a concert tomorrow night on the beach front. Tonight we will make a group decision and decide on the next step.

Last night I had a mini heart attack - I switched on the computer and had a message to say we had a virus and to download the software to stop it - like an idiot I pressed the button and we were infected with 20 viruses... I asked the lady who runs the hotel if she could help and she called her friend who came round last night and fixed it and set up a security system for us and only charged us $20 (phew!) so we are all up and running again. We have all had a bit too much sun today so Sam and Will are just watching TV as I type this. Wills' foot is much better you will all be pleased to know.

Hope you're all well.

Tamarindo and beyond

We had a great day yesterday and actually permitted ourselves a meal out last night. We found a beach front bar which served 2 for 1 beers until 7:00 and sat there playing cards whilst we had a few drinks and Sam had a couple of chocolate milkshakes. The bar was really nice, surrounded by palm trees and played really chilled music, from there we headed to the pizza restaurant next to our hotel and stuffed ourselves with pizzas and hamburgers. It was the first night the three of us have been out on an evening here and was a really nice change.

Today we are trying to book a shuttle to get down to Santa Teresa - there is one advertised as leaving every day so we thought it would be easy to hop on tomorrow but we now find that the shuttle needs to have 4 people and at the moment there are just the three of us so we aren't sure if we can go tomorrow, we have to check back in a few hours - another option is to get the bus but apparently this is a really long winded way of doing it and would be a nightmare with all our baggage, the route takes four hours on the shuttle and about twice as long on the bus. Another option would be to hire a car but we haven't looked into that yet. We are also about to book our flights to Peru, I think we will fly from Lima to Cuzco and then we have been advised to stay in the Sacred Valley because it's not so high and we won't get altitude sickness - from here we will go to Machu Picchu and then probably back to Lima from Cuzco.

Will has got an infection in his big toe (of course we hardly hear about it because he never moans!) so he is soaking it twice a day in boiling, salty water and putting cream on it - check out the picture!!

The story so far...

After a week of relaxing in quite a westernised environment in Tamarindo we are now planning the next step of our journey, so I thought it was time to stop and take stock of the things we, and especially Sam, have learned so far!

On a years trip like this, it is not possible to spend every day doing something 'touristy', we would just be exhausted, so we just plan the things that are important to us. We are finding that by spending time in villages off the beaten track, as we did in Nicaragua, you get much more of a flavour of the culture, rather than staying in the big city and doing the typical, expensive, 'touristy' things. It's also much safer for Sam outside of the city, and of course he has more opportunity to surf.

In the last seven weeks he has seen Antigua in Guatemala and mingled with the indigenous people there. He has lived just outside of San Salvador and sampled both city and coastal living in El Salvador. This is where he met his lovely Japanese friend, ate ceviche in the local market, wandered through a huge fish market in the port, played table tennis with the local kids and met a guy who did the stunts in a hollywood film. In Nicaragua he experienced a slower pace of life and realised that the country is much poorer and much less densly populated than anywhere he had been before, here we drove through flooded rivers and Sam learned an amazing card trick! In Costa Rica he has experienced Western culture again (and is longing to get back to the 'real' Costa Rica), however it has been a nice break and a chance to relax before we hit the road again - and of course we saw Howler Monkeys, Iguanans and Humming birds here.

On top of all this, he has studied for a couple of hours every day and now knows about the digestive system, the signs of life, enzyme reactions, the make up of blood, algebra, factors, characterisation and looking at media texts and he has managed to fit in a couple of hours of surfing every day! Sure he could be in school in England for six hours a day, but to be honest I think he prefers to learn on the move. He certainly seems to be taking in more here and is voluntarily reading his book 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' and is looking forward to reading the final 'Harry Potter' book - he has never voluntarily read before - he is also currently doing a power-point presentation on Costa Rica

And of course there are the practical things he is learning without knowing it, his Geography is coming on a treat (how many of you knew which country followed which in Central America at age 12? I didn't know until we came away). He is learning about budgeting and the value of money, converting currency and planning ahead when moving from place to place...and most importantly he is having FUN. Sure every day has it's ups and downs, just like at home, but we have cried and we have laughed an awful lot.

So our next stop is Santa Teresa which is on the coast and near the rain forest and here we are planning on doing a zip-wire ride through the rain forest, from here we will head to San Jose where we will fly down to Lima in Peru - once in Peru we will head away from the coast for a couple of weeks to see the Nazca Lines and Macchu Pichu! Then of course we need to start heading down to Chile to catch our flight to New Zealand.

Time is flying by so I thought it was time to stop and look back at all the amazing things we have done and seen so far... that's it for now, better get on with the planning!!

Monkey business

Hi all, I tried to get Will to do this update but no cigar (maybe next time). Since we last updated we went in search of howler monkeys and guess what we found them...we walked down a forest path and then Sam spotted them up in the trees, about 5 of them jumping from branch to branch. They are much smaller than I had imagined and very noisy, Sam was very excited.

Yesterday Sam and Will went in the sea as usual and I sat and had a coffee and chatted to the waiter who is Spanish for about an hour - my Spanish is definitely getting better! Then a couple of guys from the Good ol' US of A asked if they could join me, they were about 60 and drinking rum and cokes at 11:00 in the morning. It was brilliant they were like characters from a movie...'I haven't left the US since I gat back from Nam' said Wally, adjusting his cap and swigging his coke. I wanted to say, 'Really Wally? You were in Nam, what was it like in Nam?' but then I remembered that I wasn't in a movie so instead I said, 'Well it was jolly nice meeting you but I had better be off now' and left them to their rums.

Winging Willy has been super wingy today he has had a headache, a stomach ache, a sore toe... I think that's all... but really he does winge quite a bit (more than Sam).

We are staying in Tamarindo for a few more days now and then will head down to Santa Teresa on Tues or Weds for a few days... that's all there is to report today.