30th March 2005

The new tour has now officially started, although the 1st day is a free day in Santiago. The bus is full so means not that much space, hopefuly we will survive. So far we have been visiting the cultural places in Santiago - ok been to 3 different cinemas so far! Seen Constantine, Hitch and Closer. Kind of want a break from museums and stuff, got 2 months to catch up on all that!

Met the new group last night and turns out i`m the only single guy on the trip :-)

Tomorrow we set off on the truck for the 1st time, which i think we all just want to do as it feels the tour really starts then. We`ve been told to expect the weather to get cold in places, now very worried my lovely tan will fade away. We were also told that we may have to miss out visiting a volcano in Ecuador as it is on "orange alert" í`m devastated.

27th March 2005

Well we made it to Santiago early this morning (checked in to our hotel at 4am!). Santiago seems to be a very nice city, so should be ok for the next few days before the next tour starts.

Just like to say thanks to those who emailed me to say happy birthday.

25th March 2005

So the 1st leg has finished. Already there are only 6 of the group left in San Jose (soon to be 5). We had a big drinking session on Wednesday night as Yesterday and today it is illegal to sell alcohol in Costa Rica!!! Still we made up for it by finding a bar that was serving free rum all night, which left a few very sore heads the next day. After we got kicked out of the bar by the police we ended back at our hostel and the 5 of us left up quietly (well we tried to be quiet) slipped into the swimming pool for some silly fun (i'm shaking my head at the memories of it - disgraceful behaviour).

The last 6 weeks have been the best anyone can have and would recommend it to anyone. It's been a great mix of beaches, wildlife, activities, history and of course drinking. There hasn't been a single day i've not enjoyed.

The bad news is that i have found out that tomorrow night Costa Rica play Panama in a World Cup qualifier, the day i travel down to Santiago (Chile are also playing that night too - some very bad planning by me).

The South America tour starts on the 30th and hopefuly i will get enough chances to keep this updated as reguarly.

Happy Easter to everyone.

22nd March 2005

Now moved down to the Pacific coast to Quepos and the nice hot weather again. Gives us a time to relax our aching bodies after all those physical excursions! I wished! Lovely pool at where we are staying. We have 2 nights here to make the most of it!

Coming to the last few days now in Central America, 2 members of the group had to leave early as there was no public transport for them over the easter weekend for their connections, they are both going to Panama. This weekend I fly down to Santiago in Chile and probably a completely different lifestyle.

19th March 2005

After a few days of chilling out on the Caribbean coast we moved up Costa Rica to La Fortuna, a small town but with plenty of fun things to do and a very big active volcano that sometimes gives spectacular eruptions at night time. When we arrived a few of us walked down to the river where there was a monkey rope to swing over the rocks and drop into the water below. 2 of the group managed to do belly flops, which sounded painfull but thankfully no such disasters for me (except for nearly swinging back into the rocks).

Yesterday we all went white water rafting. The boats were small and only had 4 + guide in them and it was only grade 4 rapids but was good fun. Came close to falling out a couple of times but managed to stay in the boat, that is, until the boat tipped over - you don´t have much choice then! Brilliant though and we all made it back in the boat safely without drowning. In the evening it was to the natural hot springs below the volcano for a few hours, which my aching limbs desperately needed but my sunburnt knees didn´t.

Today we walked up to the big waterfull here and by the time we got there we were sweating, out of breath and ready for a swim in the water nearby. The waterfall is about 70m high and looked spectacular - not quite Niagara but you can´t swim near there.

Tomorrow it´s over to Monte Vierdi and straight away zip wiring through the rain forest.

15th March 2005

Been having fun in Costa Rica, which is definitely the best country so far (well definitely the best looking women anyway). Walked around the shops in San Jose, the capital, for a day - got myself 2 presents, both beer related.

On Friday evening we all went to the National Theatre to see an all women band playing a farewell concert (if anything like Black Sabbath they will have loads more after too). They played a mixture of local / African style of music and sang about the struggles of women in Central America - all very political and socialist, so I loved it. After that went out drinking with a couple of the lads round the bars. We kind of stuck out like sore thumbs being in the area where the locals go rather than tourists but it was better. In the early hours of the morning we ended up in a bar full of gorgeous local girls, unfortunately they were all ladys of the night (some even had deeper voices than me).

Saturday saw us move back down to the Caribbean coast to Cahuita, which is another place that feels like it should be in the Caribbean. Beautiful beaches all to ourselves, with great clear cooling sea to swim in. Also walked the nature trail here (for too long in my opinion - it's too hot for walking) where we saw some Howling Monkeys and White Faced Capuccino Monkeys up very close. Now debating whether to make a joke about a certain member of my family here but think i will be mature instead and not.

Today we moved along the coast a bit to Puerto Viejo, which is a bit bigger than Cahuita but has the same vibe to it. Only been here for 2 hours before i was offered my 1st joint, obviously i declined but may pop back to taht bar later! Tonight, the local cinema has got Million Dollar Baby and Oceans 12 showing so that is what we are about to do!

Tomorrow is pure beach time, in this beautiful hot weather and Wednesday sees us going back to San Jose for 1 night to visit our lady friends!

10th March 2005

Sorry for the delay in updating the diary but I have been a bit of a beach bum over the last few days.

We spent 2 nights on Ometepe Island (basically the island is just 2 volcanos in the middle of Lake Nicaragua - the largest fresh water lake in the world) where it has beautifull beach and plenty of sunbathing time. Hired out a mountain bike on the free day here to just cycle around for a bit. Turns out to be a big mistake as the hills were slightly bigger than in Nazeing and it was a lot hotter too. Did get to cycle in a banana plantation, which is definitely something you can´t do in Nazeing!

The only other exciting thing that happened here was me stepping on a snake, must remember not to do that again - think the screams were heard at the top of the volcanos.

We then moved on to Nicaraguas Pacific coast in a remote little backpackers resort. Again it was beautiful beaches (which we had nearly all to ourselves) with big big waves - which made swimming fun. One of our group decided that we all should stick our legs in the air when a big wave broke in front of us and let the current sommersault us around under it. Hours of fun.

Today we left our paradise beaches to move in to Costa Rica (last country we visit on this tour). We stay in the capital, San Jose, for a 2 nights before going off somewhere for lots of fun (which includes white water rafting, canopy walks in the rain forest, etc).

Finally I will say how disapointed I am that Millwall allowed Leeds another lucky draw, that´s twice this season. I blame the referees.

5th March 2005

We have now turned up in a the nice little city pof Granada, still in Nicaragua. The best part was seeing that we are staying in a posh hotel complete with swimming pool, not sure what the hotel made of us when we turned up all dirty with our backpacks (everyone in the group was desperate for a laundrette - which thankfully we found, nothing beats the feeling of clean clothes, ok maybe you lot didn't need to know that).

One thing that has struck us all though is how much Japanese influence there is here. Our tour leader has explained that Niacaragua voted against banning whale hunting and coincidently Japan dropped the debt and pumped in lots of money to this country.

Went up another volcano yesterday but this time we just drove up to the top in the mini bus, where's the fun in that. I wasn't even scared once on the climb up.

We also got pulled over by the police and charged $1 each for going through a town. Lee our tour leader did argue over this but it's hard to win an argiument when the police have AK47s pointing at you.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

3rd March 2005

We have now moved ito Nicaragua and are spending a couple of nights in the old city of Leon. The city has the largest cathedral in the whole of Central America and apart from that it is very hot! A famous poet comes from here too so any of those who studied English can you please tell me who Ruben Dario is, the whole group would be very happy! We did go to his old home (now museum to him) but all in spanish so we are still none the wiser.

This place was also very envolved during the violent revolution museum so we visited the old jail which is now a museum for the revolution. All i can say on the museum is that it is very artistic, basically the 4 of us that went couldn´t stop laughing (i´m afraid you will have to see the photos when i´m back to see what i mean).

Thanks to the Harlow suppoter, Chris, for giving me the good news about Stortford.

1st March

Roatan island was beautiful, lovely weather, nice people (maybe a few too many americans but you can´t have it all). Basically spent 4 days sitting on the pier sunbathing and jumping off the pier into the beautiful sea there. It was another island which deserves to be in the Caribbean.I recommend you all to go there next time you are in Honduras! For the record, the Sandfly Vs Mosquittos match was very boring over the first 3 nights, staying at 0-0. But the Sandflys defence collapsed in the dying minutes to allow the Mosquittos 2 late bites on the final night. Obviously they had been studying Millwall´s tactics very closely!!!

Tomorrow we move into Niciragua (must check that spelling later). Apparently there are plenty of cool things to do there, not going to spoil my surprise by finding out ahead though!

Good luck to Adriaan, Catherine & Emily with your move back to Brisbane. And it does look like it´s between Wales & Ireland for the rugby. Noticed the english are complaining that it was unfair, oh well never mind - good luck against Italy in the wooden spoon decider!

Can someone please either mail me or post a comment on hear telling me how Stortford got on in the Trophy. Thanks.