Travurple

Another month has gone by without a blog, so here is a catch up of what we have been up to…

So Christmas 2024, where did that come from!? We had a relatively quiet one with family. However Boxing Day was less quiet, we went to watch some Rugby, Old Pocklingtonians (the Public/Private School in Pocklington) v Pocklington Rugby Club, a fixture first held in the 1890s. Pock Rugby Club won the game. We had a ‘few’ drinks and a Pizza on the way ‘home’. We were expecting rotten hangovers, but by some Christmas miracle neither of us were too bad, it must be something to do with the fact that we were home by about 8:30pm (we think!).

Visited the Sales, Rog got some new ski gloves, he ‘needed’, what do you call a collection of gloves?? …. A fist full??

We spent more time packing the car, how come however much space you have, you end up filling it? ….. last time we went skiing we flew with 3 bags between us, this time we have filled a Volvo XC90.

29 December, we drove down to Kent to spend some time with Nic’s Brother and family.

Friends who we visited in Auckland in 2023 were in London on 30 December, so we got the train up to the city, did a little sightseeing with them, followed by lunch, it was great to see them again.

31 December, headed to a house party, Rog drove and Nic had a couple of drinks. We left at around 11:00pm, as we had to leave early on 1st.

1st January 2025, 2025 how did that happen, what happened to 2024, it flew by! Anyway, we had a 10:48 Shuttle booking, as the roads were really quiet we got there early and they put us on the 9:48 Shuttle. The Shuttle is a train which takes cars through the channel tunnel to France in only 35 minutes, it’s the first time we have used this service, but it was great! We also felt smug because there was a storm and high winds affecting the ferries.

So better explain why we are heading to France, we are heading to the Alps again to Ski. (Last time we went was in was 2023).

The drive down through France on the toll road was relatively easy, it took us two days, overnighting on the outskirts of Troyes.

For the toll roads we bought a electronic tag, but the first time you drive towards the toll barrier you don’t know for certain that it will work, have we activated it correctly?, have we put it in the right place on the windscreen? Thankfully we had, it worked and then we could use the ‘30 kph’ toll lanes, you don’t even have to stop!

We got down to Morillon in the France Alps on the 2 January, we have rented the same flat we used in 2023. It’s exactly as we remember it.

The weather for the first couple of days was not great, so we didn’t ski. Once the weather improved we started skiing, managed a few nice days, good snow and sunshine.

Whilst wearing full ski gear, helmet with visor and a face mask, Rog got stopped at one of the ski lifts and was challenged about his age (ski passes have your age and your photo) as he “looked too young and hip to be 50”, as soon as he removed his visor they agreed that he was in fact old! But you take what you can get, and Rog is happy that he apparently looks younger when you can’t see his face!!

On Saturday 11 January Rog had a fall whilst skiing, resulting in a broken right collarbone. Rog can’t remember much of what happened, but does remember hitting the deck and guessing he had damaged his collarbone! He got to his feet, removed his skis, but next thing he knew he was being told by the kind souls who had stopped to help, that he had passed out! Ended up with a stretcher off the slopes, an ambulance down the mountain to the local clinic, which is next to our flat ! Nic was already at the flat having headed back earlier while Rog had a couple more runs.

X-rays confirmed a broken right collarbone. Put in an attractive immobilising sling and referred to the hospital for a further check up in 10 days!

Nic has continued to ski a little, obviously Rog can’t ski !

Family visited for the weekend to ski, they rented an apartment very close to ours, it was lovely to see them and to catch up.

Tuesday 21 January, went to the Hospital in Sallanches, a town about 45 mins away from Morillon. Had to check in at the Emergency department, the staff were great, thankfully everyone spoke English, and kept apologising for the delays as they were busy, however we were there a total for 1hr 45 mins, to check in, have two X-rays, be seen by the doctor, be referred to the Orthopaedic department and pay a bill of €19.61 as we have a’Global Health Insurance Card’ (GHIC, the UK replacement of the E111 – if you live in the UK and don’t have one – get one – https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/

A bit of a mixed bag of weather over the last few days, including rain, frost, snow at higher altitudes.

We’ve been looking out to see the ‘planetary parade’ (6 planets visible in the sky at once), but each evening the clouds roll in so have not managed to see it yet! But will keep trying.

We managed a walk back from Sameons through the forest, down by the river, a little dodgy underfoot at times, a mix of snow, ice and mud, but an enjoyable walk nonetheless.

New Year’s resolution….. must try and do a regular blog.

We’re back, our last blog was in mid June, the rest of this blog will explain why the break and why we have not been focused on the blog. In mid June, we were in the Isle of Man visiting friends when we got a call that a member of the family had been rushed into hospital, so we cut short our visit and headed back to Pock.

Our original plan for the summer was to volunteer at some festivals. We had volunteering tickets for Glastonbury, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival, Rewind (‘80 festival) and Carfest. We also had a week booked volunteering on the canals, helping with the reinstatement of an old abandoned lock near Stroud, part of a long term project to reconnect the west and central canal networks.

We had then booked a couple of months ‘rest and relaxation’ in a couple of different AirBnBs in the south (Cornwall and Somerset).

However plans change and we have spent the last five months in Pock helping out. Thankfully given our lifestyle we can be flexible, and we managed to cancel all our original plans with minimal financial impact.

For accommodation we spent the summer bouncing around local holiday lets, some we had stayed in before, and some new ones and one with a hot tub!, before being able to make a longer term booking at one of them once the ‘holiday season’ had ended.

Over the summer we did manage to attend the wedding of friends in the Isle of Man, celebrated family 18th, 50th, 70th and 80th birthdays and sadly attend the funeral of a good friend.

Nic joined a local rock choir, Singing on a fundraising recording. Rog did an introductory archery course.

Given the circumstances, we have spent a lot of time dealing with the National Health Service (NHS). Despite a couple of blips, All the in patient, out patient, GP and community treatments have been first rate in terms of the actual medical treatment, but also the speed of treatment and the fact that all staff have been communicative, friendly, pleasant and professional. (We do acknowledge that this may be because we have had the time to focus on it and assist in coordinating appointments, medication etc).

We know the NHS has it’s challenges, but from a personal perspective we are truly blessed that the UK has a free at source health care system.

As time progressed throughout the summer, the regular medical procedures became slightly more routine and more familiar, and with health improvements, life slowly returned to a little more ‘normality’, but treatment is ongoing.

Whilst in Yorkshire we have visited a couple of National Trust properties, walked around the walls of York, and visited cafes and restaurants….. a lot!

We have been able to go on a trip to Tunisia (our 66th Country visited), which was booked a long time ago. We went to an All inclusive resort hotel, which is different from our usual travelling style, but given the last five months it is nice just to stop, relax and do nothing for a while!

We are now back in Pock in an AirBnB, seeing family for Christmas, before leaving for new adventures on 29th December.

Below are a few photos from this year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

Monday (27 May), from the Premier Inn, was supposed to be a 20 to 30 mins walk to the site of the Cheese Rolling, however given the number of people attending, the state of the ground, and the number of ‘kissing gates,’ it took us over an hour to walk.

Yes, the cheese rolling is as crazy as it sounds, a large round of double Gloucester cheese is rolled down a very steep hill and people throw themselves down the hill after it, in a mix of running, sliding and for some rolling headlong! Thankfully there were very few injuries this year, but that appears to be the exception.

There are 7 races in total, 3 men’s downhill races, one Women’s downhill race, a mixed adult uphill race (no cheese involved) and 2 children’s uphill races, 12 and youngsters, and 13-18 yrs. All the competitors in the uphill races also got to slide back down the hill again.

British eccentricity at its best, but having said that, there were a lot of other nations taking part, and even winning!

After all the official races had been completed, from where we stood it looked like anyone could have a go! But No, we didn’t!

Tuesday, we drove back up to Pock, having to odd issue with the car, occasional “knocking”! Bugger! But it is still in warranty, just!

Wednesday, another day of unpacking, repacking and prepping our festival gear.

Thursday, we met friends for coffee, the ones who had also rented ‘life in Slow Motion’ after us. You’ll remember we first met them in Manchester, on ‘Life in Slow Motion’.

Then we took the car back to the garage, for them to sort out the ‘knocking’, after a quick investigation they diagnosed 1) a sticking front brake, 2) a rear wheel bearing needing replaced!

As we were going away for the week with Nic’s parents, we just left the car at the garage for them to sort.

Friday, we drove to Crickhowell in South Wales and stayed overnight at The Manor House hotel. A nice meal in their restaurant.

Saturday, we walked around Crickhowell, had coffee, then moved on to Abergavenny, to do some food shopping for the week, then picked up a ‘not so’ narrow boat on the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal. Not so narrow being 8 ft 6’ rather than the standard narrow boat of 6ft 6’. ‘Grouse’ is a very nice boat with 2 double beds, which are set up at the touch of a button.

After the obligatory canal boating induction, a couple of things we needed to know, mainly about ‘Grouse’ rather than the canal. We cruised for only an hour before mooring up for the night.

Sunday, a lovely sunny day on the canal, a few miles and five locks up. Rog spent some time helping out novice boaters, including finding the top lock gate open and the lower paddles also open, for those not canal boaters that is a big No No, because you are emptying the upper canal!

Monday (3 June), more cruising today, including the Ashford tunnel, 375 metres of narrow and low tunnel, obviously stopping for coffee, lunch, afternoon tea! life on the canal is slow, the speed limit is 2.5 miles per hour, so you can cruise all day and not get very far. Tonight we went to The Three Horseshoes pub, a mix between a local pub and a really good restaurant. We all had really good food.

Tuesday, our only rainy day of the week, we had only one lock to do today, but as we took the boat into the lock, we spotted a large fence post, wedged behind the lock gates, meaning that we very nearly got stuck. After a little bit of messing around we managed to get it sorted. We then cruised on to Brecon, the northern end of the canal, obviously at the end we have to turn around a 60ft boat! All good fun. The rain stopped, and we had a stroll round Brecon, and a quick shop in Aldi, and back to the boat to start heading back the way we came.

Wednesday, we headed down the 5 locks, no problems this time, actually it was made very easy as a boat was coming up and all the locks were left in our favour.

Thursday, we cruised back to the boat yard to get a pump out, another tricky manoeuvre, reversing in. We then continued cruising for about three hours to Govilon. We went for a walk and the local pub had just reopened, and had 2 for 1 fish & chips, in honour of D -Day, so we decided to partake.

Friday, still heading south down the canal we aimed for a winding hole, to turn the boat around again, then cruised all the way back up to the boat yard, as we decided to moor up over night, to make returning the boat at 9am easy.

Saturday, a quick pack up of our stuff and repacked the car, and headed back to Pocklington, thought we might meet the Dave “hairy biker” memorial motor bike ride, as we passed the National Motorcycle Museum on the M42, but we missed them, probably by minutes!

Back in Pocklington, we went out for a couple of drink and food with family and friends.

Sunday, started the unpacking and repacking process! We worked out we still have too much stuff!

Monday (13 May) a walk around the park and the town centre in Widnes.

Tuesday, we drove back to Pock.

Wednesday we spent the time unpacking and repacking again, and eating and drinking.!

Thursday, we took Rog’s parents to see Andre Reiu in concert at the Leeds arena. We decided to have lunch on the way and found a pub serving Giant Yorkshire Pud, so that had to be done.

We stayed in the Premier inn, right next to the arena which made it easy! It was fully booked so looking at the queue at checkin, we were pleased we had stopped for a good lunch! The concert was Andre and his orchestra at their best, a joyous evening.

Friday, we drove to Carnforth, via Skipton for coffee & cake, then through the forest of Bowland, stopping at The Fleece Inn in Dolphinholme for lunch, before reaching our accommodation. A lovely lodge at the waters edge of Pine Lake.

Saturday, we drove up the coast, stopping for coffee in Arnside, then further around the coast to ‘Grange over Sands’. On the way we had a problem with the car, it lost power and had warning lights on the dashboard. So we rang the garage, but as it was Saturday afternoon there was nobody in the service department, so I was told the ring Volvo Assist. Apparently, as Volvo serviced the car before we bought it, we have Volvo Assist (breakdown cover) so within 45 mins a mechanic had arrived, who thought it was an issue with the Turbo.

He followed us under reduced power back to our accommodation, then requested a tow truck, with turned up within an hour, to take the car to the local Volvo dealership.

After a few phone calls, a hire car was delivered to us at 11:15 that evening. Can’t complain really!

Sunday, as the weather was good, we decided to drive up to Keswick, parking was a bit tricky as a mountain festival was on, including a marathon

Had a wander around, a coffee, and then headed for Grasmere for lunch and to buy the famous Sarah Nelson gingerbread.

Monday, a fairly quiet day, lunch in the Booth’s supermarket cafe in Carnforth, as most other places were closed because it was Monday. Had a walk around the Pine lake, spotting the water birds.

Tuesday, drove up to Ullswater, stopping at Tebay motorway services on the way up to buy pies and cakes!

Stopped at The Queens Head pub in Troutbeck for lunch, Rog had a stunning steak pie!

We got a call that the car had been fixed, so called at the garage on the way back to pick it up. Volvo Assist told us to leave the hire car with the garage making that easy.

Wednesday, the weather was awful, it rained all day, and there was a yellow weather warning, so we didn’t do much, headed to the onsite swimming pool and enjoyed the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi.

Thursday, we went to Kendal, managed coffee and lunch out before heading back to the accommodation to pack.

Friday we checked out, headed to Leyland for coffee and cake with some of Nic’s family. One of the best chocolate brownies Rog has ever had! Which is quite a statement.

Home to Pock via Skipton, Nic had ordered some new trousers to collect from the Regatta shop in Skipton.

Saturday, Rog was up early to give his brother a lift to York station, payback for all the lifts we have had! Nic prepared Lunch for tomorrow.

Sunday, drove to Chester to see more family, we took the lunch Nic had prepared.

After a quick catch up over lunch, we drove though heavy showers, down to Gloucester to watch the Cheese Rolling, but you’ll have to wait until the next blog for more details of that.

Monday (6 May) A Bank holiday, spent the day finalising the packing, much easier as we now have the car, so we are taking far to much. Lunch out with family, coffee with friends, then an evening relaxing.

Tuesday, drove to Nostell, a National Trust property, in West Yorkshire. Walked around the grounds, the lakes and a quick canter through the house, lots of Chippendale furniture.

Continued our drive to Widnes to visit friends, the rest of this week has passed with eating and drinking.

Wednesday, met more friends for lunch at a local pub.

Thursday, we went to “The Wine Club” in Rainhill for lunch, great pizza and a glass of wine for £10!!

Friday we visited Rufford Old Hall, another National Trust property, in Lancashire. A 15 century timber framed hall, with a stained glass window including the three legs of Man (the national flag of the Isle of Man), as there is a family connection between the Hesketh family and the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby, historically who “ruled” the Isle of Man. (15th-17th Centuries).

Saturday, We walked to “The Unicorn” pub for lunch and a pint, then walked back ‘home’ via the ‘Four Topped Oak’ pub.

In the evening we watched Eurovision, obviously another drink was required.

Sunday, back to “The Wine Club” for a Eastern European wine tasting, and another round of wine!

Back ‘home’ for more wine and a Thai green curry.

Another two week blog this time and not many photos either, sorry.

Monday (22 April), as we had a 4:15am alarm set, neither of us had a good nights sleep. An Uber prebooked for 5:00am, by 4:40am was sitting outside waiting for us, so, as it was there, we left early, we were 3/4 of the way to the airport by 5:00am.

We still could not check in online, and had not heard from the Travel Agent, so had to join the check-in queue, which was not too long. The AirCanada check in staff were great, there was obviously a problem with our booking in their system, but they just dealt with it and printed our boarding passes! Time for breakfast.

6 minutes before boarding we received an email from the travel Agent, informing us they had reissued the tickets. Great timing! At the Boarding gate, our boarding passes made the scanner beep! They had re assigned our seats, unfortunately not together! However, when on board, Rog was sitting in a row on his own, so Nic moved.

An uneventful 5 hour flight to Toronto, in order to transit we had to go through security again, this time they didn’t like the small knife in a camping cutlery set we have carried through Heathrow, Toronto, Panama and San Jose airports, but what can you say, you can’t discuss it with them, once they have made a decision there is no going back! So lost the knife.

Our flight to Heathrow was shown as leaving from Gate E65, but there were no signs showing gate E65, so they then changed the boarding gate to E67, as they have a stand E65, where the plane was parked, but no boarding gate E65! Confusing eh!

Thankfully another uneventful flight, we both managed a couple of hours napping.

As we had no check in bags, and there was no queue at passport control we were through Heathrow really quickly, so we stopped for a coffee to ‘land’ properly.

Then the underground into London, a meal (not sure whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner given the time difference), at All Bar One, then the train down to Kent to family.

We both fell asleep on the couch for an hour or so, despite builders working on the house.

Wednesday, just a day to recover from the flights.

Thursday, we headed back up to London, went indoor skydiving at the O2 arena, which was good fun, but a lot physically harder than we thought it would be. After dinner and drinks at the O2, we saw Take That in concert! A great night!

Friday, we got the train to York, and the bus to Pocklington, and checked into an AirBnB for 11 nights.

Then spent the next few days seeing family and sorting our stuff out again, prepping for a summer of UK travels, including volunteering at some festivals, Glastonbury here we come!

We had to pitch the new tent, to check that

A. we could do it &

B. all the bits were there,

thankfully it was a yes to both.

Wednesday (1 May) we collected the car that we bought back in February, for those interested in cars it is a Volvo XC90 2.4 R design, All wheel drive 2010 year, and for those really interested in cars it’s Black.

Thursday, local elections for the Police and crime commissioner, we haven’t voted in the UK for 20 plus years, so we exercised our democratic rights! We saw more friends and family, including swapping stories with someone who travelled through Central America in the 1960s.

Friday, we helped out at a coffee morning held in aid of the Marie Curie charity, we ran the tombola stall, everybody else had done the hard work of labelling all the prizes and dealing with all the tickets, we just persuaded people to buy them!

The evening saw a couple of drinks and food with family.

Saturday, helped out again at a Marie Curie plant sale, took the leftover Tombola, and sold the rest of the tickets!

The Tombola made £165 in total. No final total for the whole events yet.

In the afternoon Rog went to Bradford Salam Rugby club to watch Pocklington play in the semi final of the local ‘plate’ competition, Pock lost 43 – 12, it was a brutal game as some of the Bradford players were BIG.

Sunday, start of the packing up process ( to leave on Tuesday), then a walk round Burnby Hall Gardens, plus coffee.

Monday (8 April), still in Sarapiqui, on the way to breakfast we saw brightly coloured frogs, right outside our room.

Some of the group did whitewater rafting and the floating river Safari. So we had another walk around the hotel’s forest walk, and saw lots more wildlife.

We then headed off to pick up the rest of the group from their activities before driving to Puerto Viejo.

There was a total solar eclipse across the USA, however as we are so far south the eclipse was only 12%, given the brightness of the sun you couldn’t really see it.

Tuesday, we headed out of the hotel, in the rain, for breakfast before going a local tour. As we approached the cafe there was a large turkey vulture sitting on a street light, 5 mins later there was what we first thought was a gun shot and the bird fell on to a roof! We then worked out that it had actually electrocuted itself, and fused the electrics for half the town, including our hotel, and the laundry we were hoping to use, but thankfully not the cafe we were in for breakfast.

The rain continued for most of the day, on our local tour, we went to the indigenous village for a tour of the medicinal garden and a chocolate making demonstration. Then we headed to see a waterfall, but we couldn’t get close as there had been so much unseasonal rain the path was flooded, the guide told us that the last time he had seen that much water it had rained for 5 days solid, but it had only been raining for about 18hrs!

After lunch we were supposed to be walking in the national park, so at lunchtime there was lots of discussion as to whether we should call it off! However the guide said we should at least go to the national park and speak to the rangers. Just after lunch the rain stopped, so we were able to walk and see more wildlife.

Dinner was included in our tour, a local dinner at a local house, Caribbean cuisine, cooked by a man whose family had originally come to Panama as slaves working on the fruit farms, before eventually moving to Costa Rica.

Wednesday, we headed for the border to cross into Panama, a relatively short minibus journey, then a walk across the border, after paying our exit fees at the local mobile phone shop!

Into another minibus for a transfer to a boat to take us to Bocas del Toro on Isla Colon.

Bocas is an up and coming touristy town, it still needs some infrastructure work, most of the roads were unmade, and there was evidence of upgrades to drainage being under taken. Two of our fellow travellers, from the middle part of our trip, had already been on Bocas for a few days, so we took the opportunity to meet up for a couple of drinks with them before our group dinner.

Thursday, after a disturbed night, thanks to the local disco….and the few drinks we had had…. We set off on a boat trip around the local islands, we spent time snorkelling on the reef, dolphin spotting, then lying on a desert island beach. Then headed for a local fish restaurant for lunch, before heading back to Bocas.

We decided to have a quiet dinner away from our group. We headed back to the same restaurant as the night before, good job too, as Rog had been there looking for his umbrella earlier in the day, no sign of it the staff reported! As soon as we arrived for dinner, the waitress who served us the night before came and put the umbrella on the table !! We ordered our meal, then watched the local floor show! First a ‘lady’ arrived looking for customers amongst the single men in the restaurant!!! The police were called and she made a quick exit before they arrived, then the rain started, followed by a short power cut. We did get our meal, Rog’s meal was not great, school boy error of ordering something other than pasta or pizza in an Italian restaurant! The local dogs arrived to sleep under the table, and the cats to be fed by one of the other diners.. all in all an interesting evening. Back to the hotel for another night of listening to the disco next door.

Friday, we had mostly a free day today. Great brunch in a local cafe, followed by a walk to a local beach, black sand covered by a thin covering of white sand, plus some interesting shells to spot. A lazy afternoon on our balcony, monitoring the efforts of the local tradesmen to get our hotel power and water back on. Thankfully they managed it just before sunset! We had an early dinner before setting out on a boat at around 9pm, to see the bio luminescent algae and plankton. We felt very brave getting into the water to snorkel in the dark to get a better view. It was a magical experience, if slightly nerve wracking hauling ourselves back into the boat afterwards.

Saturday, left Bocas to head for the mountains of Panama, from the ferry we saw the remains of a building following a fire overnight, the building was only about 200 meters from our hotel! Thankfully everyone got out and nobody was injured.

Some of our fellow travellers had been feeling under the weather with tummy upsets, so we enlisted to help of our tour leader to change from public transport to a private minibus, for a few extra dollars, well worth the money. We arrived in Boquete, after a stunning scenic drive, in time for a late lunch, a walk round town, then a couple of beers at one of the local breweries.

Sunday, some of our group were up at 3am for a tour to a volcano for sunrise, we opted for a lazier start to the day, and to save the $125. Instead we headed out for breakfast at a slightly tricky to find spot in one of the hotel grounds. We had a taste of cold brew geisha coffee, as the owners were from Belgium and were also running coffee tours. Geisha coffee has a very floral taste, developed for those who do not like the bitterness of coffee. It is very expensive, but failed to impress either of us, Nic said it still tasted like coffee, Rog said it did not have enough punch for his morning brew, but it’s always good to try these things.

After a bit more of a walk round town, we headed to a local bakery for fantastic sandwiches on rye bread, before heading out for a trip to some geo thermal pools.

The pools were accessed by a short and rocky trail, with a river nearby to cool off. Most of us headed straight for the river after the walk to get there, then tried out the 3 different pools, with varying temperatures.

Back to the hotel for a quick shower, then off to the other local brewery for a drink and a listen to the live band. Then across the road for dinner, very nice food and to celebrate the birthday of one of the group.

Monday (15 April)

Early start….5am on a private bus to head for Panama City. Despite some very bumpy road surfaces we made good time until hitting the city traffic. We had one stop to see the original Panamanian hat making, not to be confused with the more familiar Panama hat. Then had a stop at the Canal locks for a video presentation, and to watch the ships passing through. Arrived at our hotel at about 6pm, then off to dinner at a local restaurant, where the waiters were wearing the Panamanian style hats we had learnt about that day.

Tuesday, Off on an orientation walk with our tour leader. After a brief metro ride we explored the old part of Panama City. Lovely buildings and a great view of the modern city skyline. After lunch at the fish market, lots of ceviche consumed. We all split up to explore, then walked back to the hotel. A bit of a trek in the heat, necessitating a stop in an air conditioned cafe for very expensive bottled water! Worth it for the air con.

After a dip in the hotel pool, then a shower, we met a few of our fellow travellers for a last brewery tasting, before navigating the local Uber to get back to the Old Town for our farewell dinner with our group. Another good restaurant choice and a lovely end to the trip. Lots of hugging, then back to the hotel.

Wednesday, quick pastry for breakfast at a local cafe, then into an Uber for a trip to the airport, one of the three that Panama City has. Arrived nice and early, sorted out a slight query with the way our luggage was listed on our boarding pass. Then a 50 min flight with Wingo, back to San Jose, Costa Rica. Those of you paying attention will remember we had booked the flights out of Costa Rica, before deciding to head all the way to Panama. Easy Uber into the city, after a kind security lady directed us to the right pick up area.

Easy check in to a studio apartment on the 26 floor, close to where we stayed before. A great advantage to be able to easily seek out shops and restaurants.

Whilst having a rest mid afternoon, the earth moved! There was an earthquake.

Thursday, We found a butterfly garden marked on Google maps, so decided to use that as a destination. Reasonably priced, it had a lovely enclosed space to see lots of species, plus information about the life cycle. Then a woodland walk down to the river as part of the admission fee. More butterflies and birds, right in the heart of the city.

Friday, Today’s destination was a park created from an old airport. With an Art gallery, free to enter, and useful as a toilet stop! Interesting walk through the heart of the shopping district to get there, as we had an early ish start, the noise level was reasonable. It is a thing they have in Central America, a salesperson, at the door with a microphone and speaker, telling shoppers what their deals are, it makes for a full on sensory experience when they are all at it.

Saturday, Nic found a farmers market advertised, so we headed off there. Stalls of Organic produce, and loads of food stalls. Very busy, so after a walk round we bought a pineapple and headed back.

Lunch spot today, close to our accommodation, was a Harry Potter themed pub. Really well done, good food and lots of fun.

Sunday, our last full day in Central America, so have had a reasonably lazy day, a short walk, then packed our bags, ordered an Uber for 5am tomorrow, tried to check in online, but again to no avail, so tried to contact the online travel agent to check our tickets, again to no avail, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow when we turn up to the airport.

Dinner out at an Asian restaurant and then an early night.

Monday (1 April), we left Granada, Nicaragua heading for the Costa Rica border. Leaving Nicaragua was not too troublesome. Another 1km walk across no man’s land to the Costa Rica entry point, after a 45 min queue in the sun, we finally got to Border control, which is where the trouble, at least for some of our group started. To enter Costa Rica you have to proof you intend to leave. For some that was easy, they were due to leave the Intrepid tour in San Jose, Costa Rica and have a flight booked out of the country to return home. Some of us were lucky and were not asked for this proof, that thankfully included us. Other were asked, and the only proof they had, was a letter issued by Intrepid stating that they were on a tour and leaving the country overland. Despite this being acceptable previously, today the border control decided it was not acceptable. So dealing with that and arranging onward travel documents took and additional 2 hrs!! Thankfully we were being met by a private transfer with air con, so we were just sat in air con waiting for our fellow travellers, who had a much more unpleasant wait!

Eventually we were all in Costa Rica, but we still had a long drive to Monteverde, which is in the mountains with not the best roads. We didn’t arrive at the hotel until after dark, though we did see a lovely sunset en route.

Tuesday, Monteverde is in the cloudy forest, Nic walked the ‘hanging bridges’, a network of 6 bridges up in the trees, plus interlinking trails. We had a guide who spotted wildlife, and used a telescope so people could get a better view. We saw loads of birdlife, Nic’s pictures seem to be mostly of plants !

Rog did the zip wires, including a mile long zip wire, longest in Central America, and a jungle swing with a 40 metre drop. It was also amazing ziplining above the trees!

Wednesday, we left Monteverde and headed to La Fortuna by bus and boat, another interesting day travelling through the mountains, then across Lake Arenal.

The bus driver stopped so we could take photos of the Coati.

Our hotel in La Fortuna was out of town and set in lovely grounds, so we spotted lots of wildlife. There were no dinner options at the hotel, but the owner also owned a restaurant in town, so he ferried us all there. Rog ordered smoked ribs, which were really good.

Thursday, we did a River Jungle floating safari down the Sarapiqui River. Which was basically sitting in a small 4 person (plus a guide) inflatable boat, floating down a very calm river looking for wildlife. We saw lots including a howler monkey swimming across the river (he didn’t look happy swimming) a cayman, turtles, iguanas, other lizards and lots of different bird species.

Back at the hotel we spotted a sloth in the garden.

Friday, taxi from the hotel to the local bus depot to catch a public bus to Quesada, a quick change of bus to San Jose. Public buses are always an interesting experience.

An interesting hotel, right near the railway line, thankfully our room was still reasonably quiet

Had a orientation walk around San Jose, then a final dinner for the second part of our tour, 9 of our fellow travellers are leaving us here.

Saturday, a free day in San Jose, so we wandered around the city centre, had lunch in the local market and coffee in the National Theatre cafe, built with the Costa Rica export taxes on Coffee.

Another welcome meeting, with another change of guide and only two new travellers, plus the 7 of us traveling on. Had a group dinner, our old travellers were in the same restaurant so we all joined them on a big table!

Sunday, taxi to a different bus depot in San Jose, to catch a bus to Sarapiqui (back to where we did the river safari from La Fortuna), we had delay on the bus as there had been a fatal accident.

Got to our hotel, another one out of town in its own grounds, so we went for a walk, spotting more wildlife.

After dinner we joined a ‘night walk’ with a local guide, who spotted lots of wildlife including lots of frogs, toads, spiders, insects, birds and a couple of snakes. (Don’t worry – no snake pictures).

Monday (25 March), we are still in Suchitoto, El Salvador, we were awake reasonably early so we headed out for a walk around the town and stopped for breakfast.

Later we walked to ‘Cascada Los Tercios’, a waterfall, but with no water. The waterfall is an interesting rock formation made from the same sort of rock as the Giants causeway in Northern Ireland.

There was also wonderful views over lake Suchitoto. By the time we were walking back to town it was getting very hot, so we flagged down a taxi for the rest of the journey in to town. The taxis are tiny little cars!

Tuesday, we drove down to Le Cuco, a beach resort on the pacific coast of El Salvador. We arrived in time for dinner and an amazing sunset and moonrise.

Wednesday, started the day with sunset, we spent the whole day at the beach resort, some of our fellow travellers walked/ran/taxied to the local town, but we did absolutely nothing, except eat, drink and sit in a hammock, It was great to have a rest day! All this traveling is hard work! (Don’t worry we are not expecting any sympathy 😂)

Thursday, another early start, 4am bus first to the El Salvador/Honduras border, which was not too bad. Then a drive across Honduras to the Honduras/Nicaragua border. Leaving Honduras was not too bad, then we had to walk with all our luggage the 1km to the El Salvador border. This one took a lot more time for our guide to deal with all the required paperwork, but eventually we got through and on our way to León, a Spain colonial town.

Friday, again we were awake early so headed out for a walk around the town of Leon, stopping for breakfast at the “Pan & Paz” bakery. After a little more wandering we found ourselves at the San Juan Church, which had a small procession in the grounds of the church, carrying an effigy of Jesus. In Nicaragua the traditional Easter processions around the towns have been banned by the current government. (We are not going to make any political comment here). But it was nice to see the tradition being continued in the grounds of the church.

We headed to the Mirador rooftop bar to watch the sunset and have a beer or two, Nic found a new drink called Hard Seltzer, which appeared to be water with booze in it.

Saturday, we moved to Granada, stopping off to see traditional El Salvadorian pottery, we watched the process of making a pot, then looked around their showroom, some beautiful pieces.

We then called at a viewpoint over a dormant volcano crater lake, with our next stop Granada in the distance.

Checked in to our Granada hotel, another lovely hotel with a pool, the accommodation on this ‘basic’ Intrepid trip has been much better than we expected.

We headed out for a orientation walk and a group dinner, we got adopted by a local dog, it followed us around the walk and even came into the restaurant and sat under the table at Rog’s feet, then followed us as we walked back to the hotel, finally someone else showed it some attention and we were dumped, it trotted off with them. It has to be said it looked like a healthy dog and was wearing a collar, so it obviously just likes to adopt tourists for a little walk round town.

Sunday, Lots of optional tours are available today, but we decided to stay in the town, and do our own walking tour, via lots of the churches, the port, the market, the main square.

Most of the group went of a combined tour including a boat ride on the lake, which appeared to turn in to a rum cocktail fuelled “party boat”, so glad we didn’t cramp their style.

A group dinner was planned, however we decided not to join them, as the party was continuing, we must be getting old and boring. However we had a very nice meal in a fish restaurant, one of the best ceviche we have had.

Monday (18 March), an leisurely start in Panajachel, then a slightly choppy boat ride across lake Atitlan to San Juan La Laguna.

We visited a coffee shop with its own small coffee plantation and roaster. Good coffee!

We then visited the gallery of a local artist, interesting Guatemalan art showing the development of styles.

Next a medicinal garden with a local Maya guide, showing us all the plants and explaining what they are used for. Most we had heard of/use in the UK, but a few didn’t even have English translations for their names.

We then moved on to the local female weaving cooperative, where we had a demonstration and the chance to buy stuff! We resisted…. Lovely though it was.

Tonight our accommodation was a home stay with a local family involved in the weaving cooperative, an interesting experience in a very basic home, outside toilet, cooking over a wood fire. The family spoke little English, and with the family’s first language being Myan, we relied on Spanish and Google translate to chat. Then it was time for an early night. Good job too, as the cockerels, local dogs and Lent fireworks at 5.30am were our wake-up call. After maize tea and local breakfast, eggs, frijoles (beans) and tortillas, hand made by our host’s mum, we headed back to the village church to meet our group. With time for Rog to take a few pictures of the murals on the way.

Tuesday, the weather, and visibility, was a lot better today for our return lake crossing back to Panajachel. We could see all the surrounding volcanos. A 3 hour bus trip back to Antigua, and back to the same hotel, we made a quick stop at a local house, where the 80+ yr old grandma made traditional pottery by hand. She had been making it since before she could remember, and it was amazing to watch her skill and dexterity.

Back in Antigua, we went with fellow travellers to a local wine bar, the more glasses of wine you had the cheaper each glass got! Just the two of us then went for dinner at ‘La Fonda de la Calle Real’ which served traditional Guatemalan dishes, and had a fabulous oxtail stew.

Wednesday, a free day in Antigua, we went for breakfast at Cafe Condesa, a recommended restaurant.

We wandered around the town, visited the local craft markets. In the afternoon we had an interesting chocolate making course at the Choco Museum. We made our own chocolate bars, then had to ask the hotel to store them in the fridge for us so they didn’t immediately melt.

Cocktails with some of our fellow travellers before meeting the rest for our final dinner of this section of the trip, 4 were leaving us, but the other 9 are going on at least until San Jose, Costa Rica.

Our guide had arranged a table at a ‘closed door’ restaurant called ‘Montague’ after Lord Sandwich? Anyway it was really good, especially the prawn and bacon tortillas, but the caramelised onion ice cream for desert was interesting!

Thursday, another free day in Antigua, waiting to meet the 7 new travellers for the next section of the trip to San Jose, Costa Rica is fully booked at 16 of us.

We walked up-to the Hill of the Cross, a viewing point above the town, had lunch and a beer flight on the roof terrace of the Antigua Brewing Company.

Had a welcome meeting, and then dinner with our group and new guide.

Friday, per the itinerary we were supposed to have a 4:30am start, thankfully this was pushed back to 7:30am. We had a long day drive to Copan, Honduras.

The bus driver drove around the town looking for a route to the hotel, he avoided one low archway, but then tried to go under another one, which proved to be also too low, so after some horrible scrapping sounds, he reversed and set off looking for another route, finally flagging down a TukTuk driver, who agreed to lead us to the hotel, however he also missed a turn and had to reverse!! We finally got to the hotel on the top of the hill. Once checked in Rog went on a group walk to the chocolate & tea house, then the fort. Group dinner at Cafe Via Via. Good local selection.

Saturday, we are in Copan mainly for the Maya archeological site, the southern most Maya city. Which also has the most surviving carvings, as it is built from volcanic rock, rather than sandstone used further north.

The site had Scarlet Macaws, the national bird of Honduras, which are just beautiful.

Back in the village after a quick dip in the pool we went out for some lunch. There was an amazing waitress who was able to balance food, or drinks, on her head to navigate the stairs to the area where we were seated.

After a lazy rest of the day, avoiding the heat, Rog went out for drinks and dinner. Nic didn’t feel great so stayed at the hotel.

Sunday, another long day on the bus, we left Honduras, back into Guatemala, then drove straight to El Salvador, in a bus with dodgy air conditioning, so windows open and the guide stopped to buy us all a cold drink!

We arrived in Suchitoto, El Salvador mid afternoon. After a very welcome rest in the air conditioned room, we headed out for a walk in the town. Stopped off to see an Indigo workshop, really interesting to see the process of natural dying. Again managed to resist buying lovely things from the shop. Nic’s tummy was still a bit unsettled, so she bought a fruit smoothie and headed back for some TV, downloaded from good old bbc iPlayer before we left. Rog went out for dinner.