More Central American Adventures....

I write this blog from an interesting time and place...at the moment I'm in Copan, Honduras. There has been a lot of political upheaval here lately, the president who tried to change the constitution so he could remain in power unelected was made to leave by the military about 3 months ago. Now, this ex president has somehow made his way back into the country, and everybody's a little worried about the ramifications of this! Luckily i'm leaving for Guatamala tomorrow!!

Ah the joys of travelling....it's been an amazign few weeks since I last updated. I was in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica when I last left you. Unfortunately I went there to surf, and neither the surf was up or my ear cooperating for that matter as I managed to get an ear infection!!! So I left there quick smart for the amazing Monteverde Cloud Forest in the mountains. I had an awesome time there hiking through the forest and wildlife spotting, in the day and night! I managed to see a quetzal (with the help of our guide) which is a really rare native bird rarely spoted, we were very lucky!! I also saw a sloth, a tree porcupine (!), hummingbirds, tarantulas amongst lots of other cool animals. Fun!

Next stop was Tortugero, otherwise know as the mini amazon on the Carribean Coast of Costa Rica. I got to see turtles (green) laying eggs again which was really amazing. The green turtles were qite abit bigger than the ridleys I was volounteering with on the pacific coast so that was really cool. I also did a canoe trip through the river there and spotted lots of monkeys, birds and crocodiles. I was all animaled out! I met a couple of lovely girls from Belgium there (you know who you are!!) and we travelled down to Puerto Viejo de la Talamanca together.

How do I describe Puerto Viejo....rasta heaven. A mini Jamaica on the carribean coast of Costa Rica. Walking down the street, every bar pumped reggae music all day and all night long. Bob Marley here was religion! We had a great time here, partying, surfing, biking along bumpy dusty pot holed filled roads while howler monkeys and birds sang above us. What a chilled place :)

I left my friends from Belgium behind to travel to Bocas del Toro, Panama. Bocas is a lovely little island also in the Carribean, and it was here I met my Canadian friends (you also know who you are!!!). Bocas also had the same chilled out vibe as Puerto Viejo. We parted ALOT. We also went dolphin spotting, snorkelling, surfing on deserted beaches where the only way to get there was to take a boat. I think my favourite place though, was Bocas del Drago, an amzing beach on the other side of the island filled with starfish. We played starfish farmer herders. Fact - starfish do not like to be stacked on top of on another. Needless to say we had lots of fun!!!

From Bocas my Canadian boys and I made to looooooong trip up to the Bay Island in Honduras. We crossed Costa Rica and Nicaragua to get there. It took many many hours of painful bus time and random border crossings. But we got there, and it was so worth it! We all opted to stay on a tiny island off the main island of Utila, in the carribean. Jewel quay was amazing, imagine a tiny island dotted in the Carribean with only 500 inhabitants, no cars, surrounded by stunning reef and crystal clear aqua water. Sound like heaven? It really was.

We all went there to get our open water diving cert. I unfortunately couldn{t hack it, after the first day got a bit claustrophobic and freaked out. So I opted to snorkel for the next couple of days instead, which was still AMAZING. I think Jewel quay is really one of my favourite places. I had a great time there with some amazing people, and it was very hard to leave yesterday!!!

And here I am in Copan Honduras. We're off to see the ruins here tomorrow and then straight to Guatamala and then I hit the home stretch - 2 weeks until i'm back in Sydney!! Looking forward to seeing all my lovely Sydney people :)

TTFN xo