Happy 2011!

"Greetings Loved Ones - Let's Take a Journey" (Snoop Dog & Katy Perry)

We haven't posted since last Spring - a mix of lots going on in our lives and apathy at having wrung almost all of the tourism we could handle out of Central America, but it's a new year, likely our last one in the region, so we're gonna update everyone on our most recent adventures and start a commentary on our "way forward" from here.

A bus on the highway

Since our last entry we have visited Panama, Guatemala twice, Washington, DC, Costa Rica, San Francisco, Puerto Vallarta, Tampa, and Chicago. Some good friends have left the country and we've had a variety of parties to see them on their way. We attended the 250th Marine Corps birthday ball, helped paint a rural school and helped deliver Christmas gifts to sick kids in the local children's hospital. We've had a couple house guests and Kathleen started working as an independent contractor for one of the embassy offices so we've kept very busy.

One thing we loved was our second visit to the kite festival in Sumpango, Guatemala. This year we met several friends from the states in Antigua, Guatemala and, along with some embassy friends, we took over the Casa Concepcion bed & breakfast for a few days. On Monday November 1st we all piled in a rental van and drove the 20 minutes to Sumpango. Once again we were overwhelmed by the grandeur of the hand-made, 50' tall creations and all our friends agreed it was a cultural event unique in their experience. We all spent several days wandering around the beautiful town of Antigua, eating, drinking shopping and marveling at the well preserved island of tourist bliss in a country that is close to off the rails.

 Kathleen & Melanie shopping a street market in Antigua

 

The volcano lets us know who's really in charge...

approaching the kites...

 

class "B" kites

Class "A" kites

A perfect day

overall view

detail

Something truly unique



Raising a Class A kite...

We spent the holidays in Puerto Vallarta with lots of family - not doing much except reading, eating and swilling cold beer. It was veeery relaxing; we exercised every day and walked everywhere so our dissolution was not complete, but we had a great time and were sorry to have to leave.

Today we took a road trip to the city of Santa Ana, El Salvador, to see the restored theater and the old cathedral. We both agreed that the theater would be a charming place to see an opera or play (we've been to events in Panama, Costa Rica and San Salvador) and the season starts again in February, so who knows.

Theatre salon

  

The Bard

 

Check out all the pigeons!!



Church Interior

So that's a short catch-up on our activities since May. Right now we're planning travel to the Galapagos Islands for February, stay tuned and have a great 2011!
M&K

Tikal

Hi Everybody! On May 23rd and 24th Kathleen, our friend Lori and I visited the ancient Mayan city of Tikal and it certainly lived up to it's magical reputation.

 Templo 1 - "The Great Jaguar"

Tikal is the largest and best excavated Mayan site in Central America and is absolutely enormous. The three of us entered the grounds at 06:00 and found ourselves alone for almost an hour. The only sounds we heard were amazing tropical birds and howler monkeys making it seem like we were alone in the world.                      
               

Lori & Kathleen on the Gran Plaza  
                                                                    

Mask - North Acropolis - 735 AD

We explored the city until about 09:30 when adjourned to our hotel - the Jungle Lodge - for breakfast and to avoid the influx of tour groups So much for the solitude...

afterward we time at the hotel pool while a family of howlers fed & gamboled in the trees above

A howler monkey watches us watch him

We went back on the grounds around 4:30 and stayed until sunset; we were treated to a real show as the birds and animals became very active again.

We hired a guide, originally to give us access to some archeological tunnels but we were denied entry due to "a small but venomous snake" sighted in the tunnel entrance. Instead we treked through some dense jungle to a little visited site dedicated to the Mayan fertility goddess Ix Chel (pronounced e'shell)



Carved monument to Ix Chel

 Lori & Kathleen on the trail

Kathleen & Mark at the base of a really big tree

During our walk we witnessed a stampede of Coati - a kind of long nosed raccoon very common throughout Central America

As well as seeming legions of spider monkeys!

  

We climbed to the top of Templo 4 to watch the sunset - at 70 meters in height the tallest structure in Tikal.

Kathleen & Lori on top  of Templo 4 - also known as "Two Headed Serpent"
                                          

The sunset and our walk out of the park were also spectacular...

This city was once home to an estimated 100,000 Mayans - the place is awe inspiring in it's scope and scale, particularly considering the construction technology available.

And as we've pointed out, the wild life was equally astonishing...

A tarantula - yikes!                                                                           

                                   

Oscillated Turkey - very rare critter  

                                                Audubon would be proud...

Lori & Kathleen

It proved to be a real adventure driving to Tikal from Belize City mostly because getting into and out of Guatemala was a lot more challenging than any of us expected. Nevertheless we all had a great time in Tikal, and would heartily recommend the journey as worth the trouble of getting there.

Hope we get to see you soon!

Costa Rica - Monte Verde Cloud Forest

Hello All


We spent last weekend in Costa Rica's Monte Verde National Park, about a four hour drive northwest of San Jose. First a bit about Costa Rica generally; this is a country that's leaps and bounds ahead of it's regional neighbors - clean, orderly and livable! Mark had to work the Thursday and Friday before we headed for the mountains so we were forced to entertain ourselves in San Jose and, while it's still a Central American city with Darwinian traffic we walked(!) all over, including to an art fair in a local park and caught an oboe & piano recital in the beautiful old national theater. 


We left San Jose Saturday morning for the vast primeval fastness that is Monte Verde


click on photos, they are way more beautiful when you see them full size.  Please click!

Waterfall

















We went for a guided night walk Saturday evening and were rewarded with sightings of "Clickhead Beetles" whose eyes glow orange as they fly though the forest in the dark; the moon was nearly full which kept the mammals close to their dens - but we also saw tarantulas and a variety of other exotic insects as we quietly strolled through the forest.


On Sunday we got an early start, beginning a full day of hiking at 7:00 AM; the park was blissfully empty and we almost had the cloudforest to ourselves for the first few hours. 

The birdsounds were so complex and lively it was almost overwhelming.  We saw so many birds.  The trees and plants and flowers and bugs.  It's strange to say but it felt unreal, like someone had created both the soundtrack and the visuals for a movie.


At one point, the howler monkeys went crazy and we expected one to swing out of the trees on all the Tarzan vines surrounding us.

That's a Glasswing butterfly.  And we saw it.  Really!


We walked all day, then walked home - about a 7 kilometer walk.  Just because we could.  Monteverde was originally set aside with the help of American Quakers who had moved to the country to escape the draft of the Korean War.  They were attracted to Costa Rica because the country had recently abolished its army.  The Quakers also brought along good Pennsylvania dairy expertise, so we enjoyed good cheese and ice cream while we were there.

Next day we got up even earlier - 5.30! - to go on an early morning bird watching hike.  We loved our guide, Olman, who really brought the place alive.  We had been hearing and seeing so many birds and plants, but with his expertise it all came together.

Our last night in Costa Rica was spent at the hotel closest to the airport - which also happened to be a super nice old-feeling hotel built on an old coffee plantation.  A great way to end a fun trip.  Costa Rica Rocks!

Guatemala and Lake Atitlan

We drove to Guatemala City on Wednesday afternoon - the second time we've made the four hour overland trek and the first time we've seen death on the road

Dead pedestrian (or "peotone" in Spanish) on the trunk of the car that killed him.



...and another knucklehead who only woke up when we stopped to snap his photo - he had been sleeping in one lane of the Pan American highway!

Guatemala City is quite large, urban, busy several million residents with great restaurants near our hotel in Zona 10. Mark had meetings while Kathleen explored parts of the city; the embassy closed at 1:00 PM on Friday and we headed out of town...


We drove to Panajachel, the launch point for visiting gorgeous Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It's surrounded by volcanoes, inhabited by many indigenous people and, quite a few ex-pats who seem to have entered a time warp circa 1972...

Sunrise at Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan

We stayed at an Eco-hotel called Isla Verde, a lovely, out of the way spot with a private dock near the hamlet of Santa Cruz. A friend told us it has a "scorpion problem" (after we got back) but we never noticed the scorpions and figured...

the huge spiders we saw ate them all!

Isla Verde from Lake Atitlan

We attended a Woodstock-esque music festival on Saturday and immediately figured out where all the American hippie refugees now hang their dashikis and bell bottoms. The people watching was without peer but we didn't take photos so as not to harsh anyone's mellow, so you'll have to take our word for just how groooovy it was!

As a consolation, this is a photo of our bathroom at Isla Verde - yes folks, it's outdoors.

We said goodbye to Isla Verde and Lake Atitlan - the water taxi back to Panajachel was full and one of our fellow concert goers was also a passenger:Two of the volcanoes that surround Atitlan

Kathleen waiting for the water taxi

We had great fun in Guatemala and will certainly be back before long - next stop Costa Rica! Bye now

Tegucigalpa - March 2010

Hi All

We spent the last few days in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. As usual Mark had to work for a couple days and we tacked on some tourist activities. This morning we hired a driver (Jose - a really good guy) to take us to La Tigra national park, about 30 minutes from downtown Teguc.

Our driver Jose - hire him if you visit Tegucigalpa (504) 9940-7739, lousy picture but he's great!

                                                                   

We hiked for a couple hours on one of the moderate trails up the mountain; the cloud forest was exquisite and we barely saw anyone else the whole time. Alone with just birds and primeval vegetation for company it was perhaps the most peaceful time we've had since arriving in Central America.

A really huge tree on the trail - check out the amazing vineage

It's hard to describe just how much we miss the ability to go for a walk or ride our bikes - just not in the cards while living in San Salvador. We both so appreciate it more now when we can.

Mark under a mega-arbol











Ever seen a baby blue Mushroom before?



After La Tigra Jose recommended we visit Pichaco - a park high above the city, and it was well worth our time. Lovely and bucolic with lots of little kids and a stunning view of Tegucigalpa plus the largest Jesus statue anywhere in the region outside Brazil

Tegucigalpa                

Jesus Cristo Estatua

We really liked Tegucigalpa, cleaner and slower paced than San Salvador; we'll be back again soon