December 28, 2008 Punta Hermosa Peru

Christmas was great and thank you everyone for your warm wishes! We arrived to day in Punta Hermosa a small beach town a little south of Lima. We skipped Lima due to big city burnout and to give Ricardo a break from the hectic traffic in said big cities. Driving has been the name of the game for the past two days as we are trying our best to be near Cusco for the new year festivities. I can't wait to see Machu Pichu I currently dream about it on a regular basis. 

So here is some thoughts on Peru thus far...there is some much sand here the desert was cool for the first hour but really the mountainous dunes get boring after awhile. The roads are well kept and Paris is thankful after the trecherous potholed piecemeal ashphalt called roads in Ecuador. We are however spending every bit of money on gas in the country it is the most expensive of the trip this far and since Peru is a fairly big country near the end of our trip our pocket books are feeling a little light:( However the food here is cheap and we've been devouring the ceviche (which they spell cebiche) when ever possible.  Our addiction to ice cream has become a daily quest. they actually have a nice chocolate ice cream called "Sublime" here which quite accurately describes how I feel while eating my ice cream looking out the passenger side window....then when it's gone I want more and I think about until the next day - IT IS AN ADDICTION! (and I've dragged Ricardo down with me:)

I have also noticed that I have terrible mood swings regarding the amount of garbage lining the highways in the countries we have visited, except for Costa Rica which wasn't to bad. I swing back and forth between angry and infuriation. The amount of plastic garbage bags that are thrown out the window probably more than triples the amount of human beings living in Canada I am quite serious so PLEASE, PLEASE don't forget your cloth bags next time you go to the grocery store we are up against some serious polluters down here!

Mancora Peru December 24, 2008

Today is Christmas Eve and we treated ourselves to a nice little hotel beach front with a spectacular little pool.

We've picked up all our necessary items (Baileys and wine) and the chef is planning the turkey roast for the guests, about 9 (Canadian, French, Peruvian). When we arrived yesterday both Ricardo and I commented on how relaxed we felt at this place so no doubt it will be a good Christmas as lately we are feeling the wrath of the road travel and two nights in one place will be a extra special comfort. 

Contemplating on Christmas away from home always makes me a little home sick but this time I am really enjoying the lack of Christmas buzz and feeling rather detached from the whole process. Maybe I'm starting to really understand what Christmas is about since I really only miss the people aspect. Particularly the part when we all look around at each other in the morning on the 25th in our PJs and laugh at how tired we all look while reaching for our coffees and hot crossaints. 

Alas while our family is spread all over the globe (Canada, Chile, Indonesia and here in Peru) I find myself wondering if it's possible to ever be all together for Christmas one year? 

I'll settle for the thought that we are all connected in this universe and send out my positive energy and label it Christmas cheer:)

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas everyone one in the universe!

Cuena Ecuador December 21, 2008

Hmm where do I start with this one.....well for starters it was amazing to see Paris at the port in Manta and then to jump in and drive off with not much hassle, well you can imagine how the reunion felt. With the three of us back together again we headed for the equator which was a hell of a drive. Ecuador has some pretty narly roads Paris was probably pleading for us to sent her back to the northern hemisphere. The equator was not too spectacular, but it was fun to jump back and forth between the hemispheres. I mean how often do you get to do that really?

Afterwards we headed back down South and took the Ruta de Sol (Route of the Sun) which was very nice and even managed to get in our first waves in the South American continent on this trip! We stopped in Monanita and took out the long board for an hour of waves riding and splashing about. The waves here are pretty small and will probably be for the rest of the trip since it's summer here. Although it doesn't fell like it today because we drove from the beach (27 degrees) into the Andes (15 degrees) and I'm freezing my tush off how do people live in this temperature?

The drive through the Andes is amazing the little towns are very full of life and colour and of course festivities for the Navidad season. Yesterday in Salinas Ricardo and I went to a free outdoor concert which started with a great Salsa band, some Rigaton which is a cross between rap with very dirty lyrics (which my husband wouldn't translate for me:() hip hop and ended with a girl pop band. Fortunately there was a ton of boobs and rump shaking on stage enough to get me through to the next year.

Some quick notes of observance: 

Latin americans can move their body parts very fast 

Our addiction to coconut ice cream is starting to become a problem

Ricardo has discovered green mangoes and now seeks them out with fervour

Driving form the beach to the mountains in one day is dumb and COLD!

Hope everyone has a great calm and relaxing holiday season 

Guayaquil Ecuador December 16, 2008

We landed in Ecuador on Sunday late in the night so yesterday we spent the day walking aorund the town and enjoying the malecon area. The malecon area is the waterfront and Guayaquil has one of the nicest waterfronts areas we have been to on this trip. Unfortunately it is on an inlet from the ocean and the water itself is very brown with lots of floating debris. 

We got a great view from the top of the lighthouse climbing 444 stairs to

get there. Today we are headed to the museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art. Basically we are waiting for the ship with Paris to arrive in Manta at which time we

will receive a piece of paper from the office here make our way via bus to Manta (approx. 4.5 hours) and extract Paris from the grips of the officials at the port in Manta!!! At this point we will be very happy and continue up to the equator:) 

As for our final few days in Panama - well we spent the morning biking the cause

way which was built to connect three islands from the leftover dirt when the canal was built. We headed to the mall for a quick Christmas shopping session where Ricardo bought something for me and vice versa! In the meantime we couldn't keep our eyes off the mannequins in this mall. It was weird they were  - well let's say very well endowed women and with the air conditioning on full strength - well I think I've painted the picture well enough. Actually it bordered on obscene?!?!  

Panama City December 12, 2008

This update is long over due! We reached Panama a few days ago and spent some time getting the paper work ready to ship Paris to South America. Ricardo spent a whole day at the police station getting things signed with a whole bunch of really cranky/crying foreigners and he was the purest example of calmness...all those previous border crossings has him all "zen"ed out! 

In the middle of the whole thing we quickly zipped out to watch a ship pass through the Panama Canal which was really cool. Then we had a good laugh later on when we realized we were an hour behind - therefore an hour late - for everything and ended up getting our papers at the same time as the people who arrived at 6am - we arrived at 10am which was actually 11am:)

When all that was done we headed out to the beach at San Carlos and spent a night eating great Mexican food in the most tranquilo (aka calm) town we have seen on this trip yet. Today on our way back to Panama city we discovered we (read: I) have a gift for making up rap songs in the van! Watch for our self titled debut album coming out early next year:) 

When we arrived in Panama City we left Paris at the shipping port and hailed a cab to a nice hotel in the heart of Casinoville. Where I promptly got my wallet snatched by someone on the street and have spent the next fews hours calling credit card companies etc. Tomorrow we're heading out to San Felipe for the afternoon and keeping a close eye on our belongings!

December 6, 2008 Adidos Costa Rica!

Today is our last full day in San Jose. This week we ventured again to the Pacific Coast, Playa Hermosa with it´s legendary consistent waves is was a big draw for Ricardo. We managed to get in a good session in the morning - by ¨we¨ I actually mean Ricardo because I now have another story about how I got pounded by the huge waves. I did enjoy watching some great surfing while munching on the advil!

 

On our way home we stopped by to see the crocodiles - from a safe distance - they are huge, but slow on land! Then we got a fly by from a toucan while driving it was fantastic. We ended the day at Zoo Ave in San Jose which is a Zoo mainly focused on conservation, breeding and release programs. They have repopulated some areas where deforestation and egg snatching have extinguished the population of many beautiful breeds of birds native to Costa Rica. 

We have also got the opportunity to see the crater of the volcan Poas which is hard to glimpse due to the cloud cover. All in all I think we´ve been extremely lucky in the country with the fantastic people we know and the opportunities we have had.

December 1, 2008 San Jose Costa Rica

We've just arrived back in San Jose from spending a few days in previously mentioned Tamarindo then Rincon de Vieja where we did get to see bubbling mud (see below photo),

lots of monkeys, a huge iguana, and much more before we headed to the Arenal Volcano area. 

For starters we had put off going to La Fortuna the town closest to the volcano because they had serious rains from the hurricane hitting the Caribbean side of Costa Rica when we finally did arrive the weather was very cooperative we were able to see the top of the two basins for the two days we stayed. 

Ricardo and I got a real treat when we saw a live toucan (twice) sitting in a tree. We also got an up close and personal look at a sloth in our friend's yard. Another highlight for me was going to the private natural hot springs with Ale and her mom - ladies night out - hmmm that pina colada was good! We were so relaxed we felt like jello. 

Afterwards we picked up Ricardo and headed to see the volcanic lava spewing from the top of the active side of Arenal it was like a fire works finale, very cool. To top things off this morning we hiked down to a 70 meter waterfall where Ricardo took a quick dip in the cool waters before heading back to San Jose. 

It seems like every where you turn in this country your eyes feast on amazing colours from the clearest blue waters to the brilliantly red flowers and the vibrant greens engulfing you it makes it very enjoyable even when your tired from all the hiking!