The land of the Chocolate Milk Sea

Where to begin with Costa Rica? Hmmm....

The defining and perhaps most memorable feature of this chapter of the trip has been the rain. Fortunately coming from the oh-so-nontropical climes of the UK this was something we are fully prepared for. We donned our poncho's (mental image: me in a turquoise poncho and Jiro in an orange one) walked the streets of our first port of call, a town called Jaco (Ha-co) on the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

Upon arrival in Jaco it was dark, and raining to an extent we can only imagine in the UK - Yes that's right, there are places in the world where it rains harder! We disembark the bus nowhere near our hotel and attempt to get a taxi. Easier said than done as we have surf boards and forgot to buy straps! Several taxis went past and nothing, too small :o( Drenched we finally arrived at our hotel. All is not lost as it is dinner time, out come the ponchos and we take a stroll (dodging the giant puddles) to a restaurant. Jiro has discovered a new favourite meal. Even better perhaps than Lomo Saltado (Peruvian dish of stir fried beef with rice and chips) called Casado. This is a chicken dish with potatoes, rice and re fried beans. "Food heaven" he exclaims!!

Unfortunately Jaco is not the safest of destinations and petty theft is common so we decided not to take the camera to the beach, also it was pi**ing it down so the photos would not be worth it and we don't have a matching poncho for the camera!! The surf in Jaco was interesting! Very tidal dependant and as a result of the rain the water looked not far off Chocolate milk. With rumours of crocodiles my eyes darted the surface making sure we were not on the locals lunch menu. As a result I am sure I didn't do much surfing, mostly just bobbing!!

Jiro got a great morning of surf in at Playa hermosa, the same beach as he mentioned below with the Croc attack. Eeek! I stayed well clear....sensible me!!

On account of the tropical storm we headed north to Guancaste, to a town called Tamarindo. An up and coming tourist resort, but yet to build concrete roads. This made he journey entertaining as we fought rain, mud and pot holes the size of meteorite craters!! Our residence here were fantastic. Private pool (luxury!) and a hammock on our porch.

The area is a nature reserve for nesting leather Back turtles. Unfortunately we didn't see one, I only found the tracks where one had been the previous night. It was huge! At least a metre in diameter. The beaches were vast and spectacular.

The surf was far from world class, but it gave me the chance to catch a few waves that I felt weren't out to drown me, obviously maintained my Croc watch vigilantly!!

As the surf wasn't the greatest we hooked up with a couple from California, Mike and Laura, who are also escaping the world and travelling central America, hired a car and headed to a few beaches further south. Down the same terrible roads, a few hairy moments where we thought we might get stuck in the mud. "Shot-gun steering not pushing"!!

This is Avellanas, a beach I attempted to surf twice. No river mouth so Croc watch was called off for the day, but unfortunately a mean shore break which I simply couldn't get passed. Very frustrating. The only wave I managed to catch kindly deposited me on a pile of rocks too shallow to paddle over and rough to walk over. Damn it!! Bring back croc watch beach!!!

We headed to Playa Negra, one of the most consistent spots on the coast. At first the waves were no-where to be seen so we sought out a restaurant. And what we found was an old guy from California running a hotel which looked as though it hadn't had guests for the last 5 years.....but he cooked the biggest sandwiches I have ever seen!! After lunch and WOW! Biggest surf we had seen in weeks. Some sets were coming in double overhead. I took up beach watch. Not for a lot of money was I getting in! This time I had Laura as company whilst Jiro and Mike headed into the mouth of the monster! Their opinion differs from my description here. Whislt I gossiped idly on the beach Jiro caught some great waves, also in his words "got his butt kicked a few times" but had a great time in the water. Happy Days!!

The fun of leaving Tamarindo began at 3am, we had booked a bus ticket to take us back to San Jose (Capital of Costa Rica) at 3:30am. We tramped across town laden with bags to find the bus station deserted. So we walked to the other end of town (just in case) to find out that the bus does indeed go from a random street and not the bus station and has left already. Uh-Oh, could this be another Ceri and Jiro travel adventure/disaster? Back to our hotel we go, passed a now very confused security guard and book ourselves onto a small flight to San Jose later that morning from the local airport. More sleep. Hooray!!! The airport was interesting, perhaps the smallest I have ever been to.

This is the terminal, Jiro is in the departure lounge!

and the runway

We made a little friend at the airport:

The views from the tiny plane, which in order to get on we had to be weighed (surely I get extra luggage allowance for being small?!?!), were spectacular, far more impressive than a bus journey in the dark!!

Arriving safe and sound in San Jose we checked into our flight only to be approached an hour later to be told our flight was cancelled. Fears of missing out on our RV trip flashed before our eyes, but alas, all was OK as the airline were going to transfer us to another flight (a direct one) landing at the same time in LA, give us dinner vouchers and a $200 credit each with the airline. Did we mind? Ummm, no!!! Long wait and several card games later, we get on our flight to LA. Yippee!!!!!

The latest...

Most days lately are great, and Im feeling pretty lucky! But today is an especially GOOD day, because we have just made plans that will hit 2 life goals in one fell swoop.

1. Surf trip to California in an RV (in the dream it was an A-Team van, but I shall compromise for this beautiful machine)

2. Surf trip to Bahamas (Eleuthera island)

We decided that October/November is too risky in terms of weather and surf conditions in Central America. Recently it has rained non-stop and the surf has been crap. So we decided to go to Hawaii for a month.

..... Then Megan Kelly, a friend from my Japan days who teaches in the Bahamas emailed me out the blue and said "come and visit me on Eleuthera island!" Her friend Tom owns this place: http://www.bahamasadventures.com/surfers_haven.lasso so we should have a cheap place to stay directly overlooking the surf!

We found some great flights via California, so we will roadtrip around San Diego for 5 days and then stay one glorious month in the Bahamas before arriving in Vancouver in early December.

We will make it to Nicaragua... just got to time the surf season just right.

Life is good.

Amendment to the "itinerary"!

Slight amendment to the plan, we are off to the Bahamas via Los Angeles! Life is full of tough decisions; we decided this slight detour yesterday after ditching the idea of going to Hawaii, like I say "tough".

So the new route is this: Costa Rica to L.A. to the Bahamas to Whistler to Nicaragua to ???? who knows!!

Got to go lie in the hammock after making all those BIG decisions I am tired......

Ceri gets Published!

Just a quick one! A few days ago I got an email from a news website asking for my photos of Kelly Slater for one of their articles about him winning his 9th World title. Check it out. My photos on a real website! OK, so it's not the BBC or anything but I think it's exciting!!

http://my.nowpublic.com/sports/kelly-slater-wins-9th-world-title#comment-215934

For those who couldn't figure it, I am cacsmith and right now by photos are the ones on the left of the story!! :o)

Rain, crocodiles and one legged surfers

Now you'd think we would be used to constant non stop rain coming from the UK, but Costa Rican rain is something special. It has rainied constantly for the last 4 days. The roads are flooded, rivers are swollen and thats apparently when crocodiles come out to play in the surf.

Ceri said to me the other day, maybe you should watch out for crocodiles and I thought.... "hmm I've never heard of any surfers ever being attacked by crocodiles.... " When we were driving north up the coast, across one of the swollen rivers, Ceri spotted a 8 foot monster on the riverbank. The noise she made was a bit like this: " eeeewwwwwwwaaauuuuugggghhhh".

Inspired by her croc spot, Ceri did some research and found out that on the beach I surfed 2 days ago, Hermosa beach, a croc bit a surfers leg. check out this link. http://www.surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/crocodile-attack-costa-rica-surfer-092508/

But parents!! Don't worry, we won't be surfing anywhere near rivermouths and we will keep a sharp eye out for the crocs. Also these attacks are extremely rare!!! I repeat, DON'T WORRY.... because even if we did lose a leg, we could still surf, like this amazing chap in Bali!

Machu Pichu and the Inca's

Our visit to Machu Pichu was unbelievable, a fitting climax to a fantastic 3 weeks in Peru. More than anything, I was amazed by the Inca civilization... they were a very clever bunch. Have a look on our flickr to see pictures of Machu Pichu. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceriandjiro/sets/72157608033086994/

Here are some of the things I found most interesting:

- The Inca's had no writing system, so they relied heavily on oral communication. They devised a system of relay runners who could transport a message 250km in one day. This was vital as the Inca empire was HUGE. It stretched from Ecuador in the north to Argentina in the South, Peru, Chile and most of Bolivia in the middle. In just 14 days, a message could be sent the entire 3600km that the empire stretched north to south.

-The Inca never invented the wheel. But they also had no draught animals to pull anything so they didn't miss out on too much. They also never invented the arch, but they did built the most advanced Suspension bridges and were by far the best stone masons in the world. They cut huge blocks of granite using harder stone from meteorites.

Hmmmmmm. Look at the corners on that.

-Machu Pichu, which was never found by the Spanish Conquistadors, was actually a University where elite students learnt cutting edge agricultural, architectural and engineering skills.

They built tiered terraces for experimental farming. Amazingly, each of these terrraces has its own micro climate. By using rocks with varying degrees of porosity (that is a word, I just checked), and different soil types they could have one terrace with soil of 17c and another of 20c, for example. And they could therefore find optimum growing conditions. Genius!

-The Inca empire was only approx 150 years old when the Spanish first invaded in 1529. Within those years they built an Empire of about 12 million people, through military conquest, but primarily through peaceful assimilation.

Lesson over, you can go play now!!

An ode to Bill Bryson

For those who have read Bill Brysons' 'A walk in the woods' - in which he describes his time walking the Appalachian trail in the US you'd be surprised how long on a 60 mile hike a few newly acquainted strangers can maintain a conversation about such a book whilst trying to take their minds off the ridiculous altitude, resultant lack of oxygen and the all too apparent fact that there is only one way to hike - all day - UP!! In case you are wondering the answer is about 6 hours!

Let me begin this blog entry by updating you as to our whereabouts. We arrived in Cuzco, capital of the Inca Empire and gateway to Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley. We flew in from Lima having taken a night bus from Trujillo, a 9 hour journey on business class-esq seats, so comfy in fact that when we arrived I for one urged to driver to drive around the block for another hour so I wouldn't have to peel myself out of my oh so comfortable seat!! (Jiro was making grunting sounds which I have accepted as meaning he would not have said no to such an event occurring!!)

So, in Cuzco we arrive, get dropped off at the wrong hostel after checking several (hundred) times the driver was sure.

Us: "Casa de la Gringo 2, you know?"

Him: Si senor, Casa de la Gringo"

Us: "2, no 1"

Him: "Si, Si Casa de la Gringo"

Yeah right! Number 1 was where we were told to get out of the cab and across a completely land locked city, high in the mountains with surf boards we walked. A few comments sent our way - "where's the surf?" etc. Grrrrr!!!

Mini drama and mild embarrassment behind us Cuzco is a magnificent city, perched high in the Andes (3300m above sea-level) with architecture from both the Incas and the Spanish.

We took on the tour of the Cathedral, a building which the Spanish after conquering Cuzco from the Inca's built on top of their palace and constructed with stones from a nearby Inca site which they deconstructed. However despite it's jaded history it was impressive in a gaudy sort of way. The Spanish in their colonisation of the Inca's realised they had to talk their language (the Incas did not read or write) so commissioned a painting of the last supper in which Jesus and his disciples are eating the Peruvian delicacy, Cuy or as we better know it Guinea pig! Yummy! Also, Judas is Peruvian, that aught to get all the Inca's to convert?!?!?

After a couple of days getting used to the altitude and many breathless and heart pounding climbs up the steep hill to our hotel we started our hike to Machu Pichu, not wanting to follow the crowd (are we loners?!) we joined a small group on the Salkantay trek. 11 of us in total as opposed the 400 who start the Inca Trail daily. Day one started with a 4 am start followed by an 18km hike, mostly uphill, gaining about 1000m in elevation at a starting altitude of 2800m. The terrain was arid to say the least and we were covered head to toe in dust. But the vistas were spectacular.

Our goal for day 1 was to position ourselves for the climb up the Salkantay pass, we arrived in time to watch the sun set over the peak (an altitude of over 6000m). Just beautiful!

That night was freezing! I personally slept in 5 tops, 2 with hoods, 1 hat, 3 pairs of trousers, 2 socks and gloves. Toasty Warm! And, for the record, incase you are thinking wimp! Jiro had 2 hats, 3 jumpers, trousers and 2 pairs of socks. Like I said it was FREEZING!! Despite the cold our chef, that's right, this is luxury camping, our chef had made us fresh pancakes, porridge and cups of tea. Mmmmmm!!!!! The hike this morning was tough, the toughest I have ever done, reaching an altitude of 4600m/15,000ft. To put this into perspective, that is higher than someone will get when skydiving, higher than a light aircraft will fly due to an inability to pressurise the cabin. High, with little oxygen! A huge thank you to Amanda for our Mountain sickness remedy. Really kept me going! And, a far sight better than chewing on Coca leaves, which even when mixed with Banana resin (the catalyst) are still disgusting! We generously handed out ours to passing Peruvians who lapped up the offer!

Our intrepid guide Freddie decided we should all try a new route along the ridge "because its a flat walk once you get up there!". It was far from it. A 60-80ft sheer drop either side of a paper thin ridge for about 1 mile. Slow work!!

After lunch, and yes, that's right, 4 courses prepared by our chef, was all down hill through the cloud forest, in fact the following day was much the same, but with a stop of at some hot springs, beautiful and our first chance for a wash in days. Eeewww, stinky!! This is also the day Jiro finally got to put his new Swiss Army Knife to use. He whittled himself a walking stick, after realising it is near impossible to saw through a wood knot (the hardest part of wood - in the words of the carpenter hiking with us "he'll figure it out soon!") he finaly smoothed the stick, removed all the bark and added a thumb hole. Kept him quiet for hours and gave me the chance to finish my book :o) It was a beautifuk stick (can sticks be beautiful?!?!) but unfotunately it was not allowed into Machu Pichu or on our flight back to Lima. RIP stick :o(

It rains in the rain forest! A lot!!! This is in fact the Amazon basin and bugs were as annoying as you can imagine. A fly called the Borrachuda fly bites, draws blood, leaves you bleeding then leaves a sore that itches to an eye watering degree. In fact so potent is the bite that it almost ended the Spanish conquest of the area as troops were mauled by the blasted bug. Any mosquito can only dream of leaving a itch on it's victim like this.

Day 4 of the hike and we get our first view of Machu Pichu, unfortunately it was cloudy!

The peak in the very centre of the above photo is Machu Pichu mountain and the ruin above is on a hilltop opposite. The Incas used the outpost for communication, using mirrors and sunlight to communicate - early mobile phone communication!! The butterflies I found fascinating they were all on the ground in big groups, I couldn't say whether they are eating, sleeping or dying but I was very grateful for the display. Such delicate and beautiful creatures.

All in all the hike was incredible, the porters who carried all our belongings, the chef and the guide created a once in a lifetime experience. I can't recommend doing it enough. Ok, so for those who like their home comforts you do have to camp, but(!) they porters carry and put up your tent, you arrive to a bowl of warm water to wash in, and a 4 course meal prepared and served in your campsite. Luxurious!!

Peru, the land of potatoes

We arrived in Peru after 3 whirlwind weeks in the UK. The plan was to head straight to our friends, Dan and Tammy who live in the north west, in a town on the coast called Huanchaco. On the 10 hour bus ride north I learned a few things about Peruvians: They like to start building brick walls and houses and stop halfway through. Most houses are one story but have ugly metal struts sticking into the air like hairs out a mole.... just in case they want to build higher in the future, or get the money to do so. I also saw that the whole of west Peru is desert- dry, sandy, barren with huge cactus (cactae?) and high cliffs plunging into the pacific. I also sat through 9 hours straight of Mel Gibson films, in Spanish and at full volume.

The next day we grabbed our surfboards and headed to Chicama, famous for being the longest wave in the world. With perfect conditions, it can be surfed up to 2km, which in surfing terms is just unbelievable. When we got there it was about 3-5 foot and we surfed waves up to around 300m, which was still longer than any wave i have ever surfed. Instead of paddling back to the starting point, most people get out and walk. It was a perfect morning and just Dan, me and Ceri in the water.

The rest of the week, went like this: wakeup, surf, have lunch, have spanish lessons, surf, have dinner, play cards, sleep. When the waves werent so good we explored the nearby city of Trujillo, which had some interesting colonial buildings. To get around, we caught Collectivos, which are little minibuses that shuttle back and forth between places, and cram about 25 people in a space designed for 8.

The area of Peru we were heading for was home to the most successful pre-Inca civilization in the America's, the Chimu and M0che. They built huge adobe cities and were a pretty advanced lot. The Temple of the Sun and Moon were huge Pyramids, that have been mostly destroyed over time, but you can still get a feel for how impressive they were.

The surf got bigger towards the end of the week and Dan and I got some great waves. The last session was the best, 7-9 foot waves and just the two of us out there surfing until it was too dark to see.