Ometepe Island...Nicaragua

...Ometepe Island ...Nicaragua...6th March 08...

...two Volcanos-CONCEPCION & MADERAS-in middle of LAKE NICARAGUA-Central America's biggest lake-over 30 rivers flows in to here then the lake empties it in to the CARIBBEAN via one narrow river-this lake contains rare freshwater BULL SHARKS intially migrated from Caribbean...both above volcanoes were separated by water until after many eruptions both united in a single island...we stayed on Concepcion-town called MYOGALPA-went around in local buses...Altagrcia other town on Maderas...
...while we were there BBC came here for few days with some 12 handicap people-filming them climbing both volcanoes...programme will be aired late 2009 on BBC1...

....riding local buses in Nicaragua...buses are known as CHICKEN buses by travelers as anything and everything is carried on the bus by locals...sometime there are more Chickens on thebus then pessengers ...we loved it!

Monteverde Cloud Forest...Costa Rica

...Monteverde Cloud Forest(MCF)...Monteverde...3rd March 08

...MCF is bird watcher's paradise and other wildlife like Sloths,Monkeys and Snakes etc...30 species of brilliant HUMMINGBIRDS ...one type seen above at Hummingbird Gallery...

...another type of HUMMINGBIRD...and there where so many just flying pass by your ear..we also saw Costa Rican national bird QUETZAL-spectacular colours...
...adrenaline junkie at it again in Costa Rica...

...Sky Trek ZIP LINES ...longest and highest in the world...

...rode through 11 different zip lines-total of 11,000 feet,one with a length of 3000 feet and 500 feet high-I seemed to have grazed tree tops as I flew above the forest at 60mph,through the clouds and wind in my face...

...felt like SUPERMAN and SPIDERMAN...

...Pritti done this too and she loved it...

Arenal Volcano...Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano...1st March 08

...Arenal view from hotel balcony...world's ten most active volcano...erupts non-stop daily-throwing out huge red hot boulders and lava with it-but only on South side-no hotels at all on South side -we were based on Northern side-smoke can be seen non-stop... town is called La Fortuna meaning Fortunate as LAVA never flows towards the town...
...this picture shows Arenal spewing out Smoke and Ash...it,s like a huge firework...
...lava flow seen at night time...we had to trek for over two hours through thick Costa Rican Jungle at night time to get to a vantage point on the Southern side to see this...it was SPECTACULAR...you can see and hear huge red hot boulders being thrown out of the crater in to the air and being smashed as they roll down the hill and red lava being thrown in the air...PURE MAGIC...

Nicaragua...

...Sat 8th March 11am OMETEPE ISLANDS in NICARAGUA-been watching Liverpool v Newcastle -great result for the REDS...
and what about INDIA´S thrashing of AUSTRLIA in the ODI´s-finals-again it feels great to be supporting the boys in BLUE and REDS...
Ometepe islands are real disappointment and we are catching the ferry at 1pm for mainland NICARAGUA then on to the CAPITAL MANAGUA-everyone says it´s the most dangerous place for travelers -so we are going to just drive through it at night time on our way to EL SALVADOR...
... met up with some friends we made on STAHLERATTE and had few drinks with them...great to see them again-from GERMANY...
...border crsossing in to NICARAGUA from COSTA RICA was simple enough-except we had to walk long way with our backpacks from one border to the other-NICARAGUA is very poor country but as always poorer the country nicer the people...

San Blas Islands

...SAN BLAS ISLANDS-PANAMA...

...STAHLERATTE name of our sailing boat-deal was we all had to cook and help run the boat-here PRITTI helping to raise the sails as I down a cold one!...21 on board -18 pessengers and 3 crew from GERMANY-11 NATIONALITIES on board and we all got on like house on fire-4 nights stay so we made 4 groups and each group once had to cook breakfast-lunch-dinner for others!!!...we had to cook on the last day and we made INDIAN FOOD that others will remember forever...our group had us 3 ,RICHARD from Leicester and MELVIN from Texas US...

...me relaxing in a hammock-it was non-stop PARTY for 5 days as we sailed from CARTAGENA-COLOMBIA in CARIBBEAN SEA through SAN BLAS ISLANDS off PANAMA...brilliant sunrise and sunsets-free flowing beers and rum and fantastic company...

...after sunset at sea as we enjoy dinner on first day cooked by ANDY and his gang...
...true PARADISE in every sense as we arrive at SAN BLAS ISLANDS-there are over 300 tiny FANTASY ISLANDS-only ten or so inhabited-all covered by coconut trees-white powder sand beaches and turquoise CARIBBEAB SEA-all islands are just tiny -some one km by half a km-just gorgeous...
...STAHLERATTE has six stunning sails-has to be the most enjoyable sea journey ever-GERMAN Captain named LUDWIG-real gent but very mad and crazy-he was laugh a minute...
...one of the many activities carried out by those not on duty in the kitchen!!!!-here DARCY from AUSTRALIA swinging in to the CARIBBEAN from the rope hanging from the sail mast...
...VEDANTA and PRITTI swimming and snorkelling their way to one of the island from our ship...

...what can I say!...the picture just says it all...
...VEDANTA had time of her life on STALHERATTE as she made friends with every one of them and they all enjoyed her company too...here she is floating towards her dream island and it's only 100 meters away!...
...barbi on the beach-it was all day affair on our own little paradise and we all had loads of beer and rum and today it was all done by our American friends RYAN,MEGAN and their gang....

...barbi will go on late in to the night...island of total perfection and there are over 300 of these within swimming distance of each other...

...as sun begins to set and the PARTY goes on...total bliss...
...one amazing day in four days of total ectasy...

...SAN BLAS islands belong to PANAMA ...some of the islands are home to KUNA people-unique indigenous community...all SAN BLAS islands plus some of the mainland PANAMA are an AUTONOMOUS region run by KUNA people with little interference from national government ...you have to admire KUNA people for their achievement of total autonomy from PANAMA and you also have to admire the PANAMA GOVERNMENT for trusting the KUNA people by giving them the autonomy...

Panama City-Panama Canal-Quito-Bogota

...Panama City...

...Panama Canal 80km long...15,000 ships pass through here each year earning over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in revenue for PANAMA-will be widen soon to accomodate huge container ships at a cost of 10 billions US...ships pay according to weight and cargo carried...
...3 sets of LOCK system that allow ships to cross from PACIFIC to ATLANTIC and vice versa....over 22,000 people died building this canal from all sorts ...canal areas are surrounded by real PANAMANIAN jungles...
...US handed PANAMA CANAL to PANAMA only 10 years ago...
...had a good day watching GIANT ships going through the locks....
...QUITO CITY-ECAUDOR... ...BOGOTA-COLOMBIA-we loved traveling through COLOMBIA...

Costa Rica

... COSTA RICA is THE most disappointing country after VIETNAM...capital SAN JOSE is the most shittiest capital in the world after ISLAMABAD in PAKISTAN!... 2 locals tried to rob me but but we got away!...this country is full of AMERICAN kids looking for cheap thrills and they throw dollars like confetti and hence it is twice as expensive as other countries around ...service and infrastructure is third world...we were going to spend 3 weeks here but we will finish in 7 days and spend our time & money in other CENTRAL AMERICAN countries instead...so it's adios COSTA RICA forever...

...from SAN JOSE 6 hours bus to ARENAL...after that 4 hour jeep -boat -jeep to MONTEVERDE through COSTA RICAN jungles...

...today 4th March 11am...been watching VOLACANOE ARENAL last couple of days and night...it throws out red hot lava and rocks every 5 minutes with ash and gases...at night it's like giant fireworks and red hot lava flowing down and very spectacular indeed...one of the world's 10 most active volcanoe...
...today we are in MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST...done flying over the rain forest in ZIP LINES for 2 hours and watching HUMMINGBIRDS!!!
...this aftrenoon we are moving to PACIFIC COAST to watch SEA TURTLES laying eggs on the beach at night time...can,t wait...wish you here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...will publish some photos soon-just don,t have time at the moment...