Womble's-Wanderings

Now I am in Mexico, still hiding in the mountains as much as possible, trying to keep away from the awful heat. We are told that this is the very worst time of year to be in Central America – The hottest – it is the very end of the dry season which means the ground is hot, dry and dusty; everything is hot and the heat builds up daily. When the rains come the ground is cooled down and of course there is no dust. There is also very little shade as the sun is overhead most of the day – 4pm and even our tucks do not make their own shade. Oh how I wish I had a blind that worked, I have the blind, but in Argentina when the lock on my back door broke the winder for the blind fell out and was lost, we have not needed it before but now It would make such a difference, we sooooooooo need it! fro two reasons - one to sit under for our cuppa, also it would keep the side of the truck cool!! With luck in the US I may be able to get a new winder, fingers crossed.

When I leave the truck for lunch or shopping etc the heat in the cab builds up to 50+ believe me that is hot, thank goodness I was able to get the Air Con fixed in Quito and can bring that down to 30+ (which is bearable) quite quickly. Oh for a silver screen!

This kind of heat and dust does not do my chest much good either, that sounds like a lot of moaning I am enjoying it really.

We arrived in Guatemala 11-04-07 and headed for the town of Esquipulas which was very busy with tourist shops, market stalls, lots of people. We had lunch then went to visit the church, the towers of which, shining white in the sun, loom over the town, this is also the reason for the tourists, in 1595 an image of Christ carved from black wood was installed in the church, it is known almost universally as “Black Christ” and since 1737 when the Archbishop of Guatemala came to visit the church and was allegedly cured of a chronic ailment pilgrims have been a steady flow to the town. This massive church has withstood earthquakes for 250 years. We did end up in the queue that was going to view the “Black walking backwards", it was all very err……………..

From here our journey took us to Guatemala City, I have a problem with the engine over heating and going down hill racing badly, just by chance trying to find our way through the city we passed a Mercedes’ Garage, I was struggling by now with the engine, so we pulled in spent the night, even had lunch there for 2 days; I also found a loose shock absorber, which got fixed before it broke, score !!!

Our next stop was in Antigua, this wonderful colonial town nestles between 3 volcanoes; it has cobbled streets, beautiful mustard and ochre colored houses all with very colonial iron fittings. We found street side parking then wandered the town, which was lovely.It has a very village feel, lots of tourists, for us this was a first. We also managed to get wireless!! We walked the town the following day seeing all the sights in our guide books – The very best being a beautiful, privately owned Colonial house built in 1636 and destroyed in 1773 by an earthquake, it then stood desolate for over 150 years, was purchased in 1929 by a couple whose painstaking, authentic restoration gives a fascinating glimpse into how a royal Spanish official lived in the 17th century. This house is only open in the afternoon for a couple of hours I am so pleased we were able to view. So very enjoyable. The whole visit to Antigua was lovely and not too hot either!!

Our next stop took us through the mountains to Lake de Atitlan - awesome, we spent the night at San Antonion Palopo; this is a small lake side village extremely poor, here men and women wear traditional clothing, tend their terrace fields and clean mountains of scallions !!! on entering the village we had great difficulty getting past the scallions as they are cleaned at the side of the road, which is very narrow. The men and women here also do some very good weaving, but were very pushy and not very nice when we did not buy. Of course we cannot buy everything.

We turned east from the Pan-American to go into mountains and visit some of the villages; this took us through some very sadly deforested slopes also along a high ridge with the road dropping away from either side. The roads in the villages were very narrow, cobbled, quite steep in places - usually just round a corner! Very scary, with our size vehicles. We passed through several very small, very poor villages, in my diary I wrote “How do the people keep so clean! The women look amazing in their beautiful hand woven clothes” because they live in what we would call hovels, very small with only a cold tap out side and a cement sink for washing, some people had made square shields from black plastic for personal and private washing, which could not be seen form the road! Who knows about the toilet!!!!

We arrived at the border town of La Mesilla just after lunch; this of course is much lower then our lovely mountains and therefore HOT! We have read in our guide books that the Mexican borders are a nightmare, slow, busy, very long queues and corrupt. So we decided we would park up at the border overnight crossing first thing in the morning before the queues built up also before the heat builds up. We spent the afternoon trying to get in a minuscule spot of shade at the side of the road; I could not open my windows or door on the shade side - too near the road, scared of a lorry hitting them, so could only open on the sun side then had to keep the blinds shut. HOT HOT HOT!!! We then moved to try and find more shade and found a building which helped a tiny bit and I was off the road so could open up everything. I sat outside on a dirty edge with fly’s and ants ugh! (why do I do this) but shade. Once the sun had gone we drove to the side of a petrol station to sleep. Ian (who built my truck) put a dimmer switch on the fan over the bed, which I can leave on all night wonderful, this has saved me on these very hot nights ‘cause I have to shut all the windows I am able most of the time to leave both roof lights open.

We left early in the morning to cross the border I do admit to being a little worried. Do not believe all you read. The Guatemala side was very straight forward took all of 10 minuets and only that because the guy was not quite awake and filled in the wrong exit stamp in my passport, but realized what he had done when he filled in Les’s exit visa.

Into Mexico we go, first sprayed with disinfectant, had to changed some money to pay for this - 6$US. Then into the passport and vehicle office. Here it cost 50$US for road tax. That was it. All very quick efficient and not a whisper of any thing else. This had to be the easiest most efficient border so far of all the America’s. We still have insurance to purchase because here in Mexico unless you have Mexican insurance for your vehicle and have any kind of an accident you go to jail whilst your paperwork is sorted and blame allotted. Not a prospect I wish to challenge, we were ale to get insurance in the town we were heading for San Cristobel de las Casas this cost us 126$US cheaper then jail I figured.

In San Cristobel de las Casas we stayed on a trailer park! Our first. (First campsite for ages) there were 2 other trucks there both American. Because of the delay in getting the insurance we stayed on the site for 5 nights which was a nice change, we went on a couple of trips into the beautiful highlands of Chiapas, where descendents from the ancient Maya live and maintain unique customs, costumes and beliefs. The village of San Juan Chamula is fiercely independent and strict laws for outsiders must be obeyed. A large sign at the entrance to the village forbids photography in the church or near where any rituals are being performed, there are houses belonging to leaders all over the village where rituals are held, the people are dressed in traditional clothes most men wear a loose homespun white tunic, those with important religious and ceremonial duties wear a sleeveless black tunic and white scarf on the head, the woman wear white blouses, woollen skirts and very nice shawls. They have their own courts and jails the criminals have to wear the white tunic and carry a black stick, so everyone knows they are serving a sentence; they then have to act as policemen and road sweepers. One of their duties is to catch visitors taking photos of forbidden stuff, I took very few photos and only when the guide said it was ok and he was standing next to me.

The churches were something else, still Catholic, the priest comes once a month to do baptisms, but for the rest of the time their own rituals and ceremonies are performed inside the church, I have never seen anything like it, but …………………………. The people here are called Tzotzil they are the largest subgroup about 80,000 strong, Some live inside the villages, some out in the country side. Starting at dawn on a Sunday people from the country stream into the village for the weekly market and for their visit to the Church, also bus loads of tourists also stream in, we went another day!!

The following day we went to a Zapatistas strong hold, this is a guerrilla movement whose main aim is to improve the wretched living standards of Mexico’s indigenous people, their subcomandant called “Marcos” has become a cult figure, this was a very interesting visit we were treated with great respect, were interviewed by 3 of their leaders, told what their aims and objectives are, were allowed to ask questions and took their photos!!!! Purchased some of their handicrafts; also had a lovely lunch at one of the shops. Quite an experience. On our way back to San Cristobal de las Casas our guide took us to a another village where there was a ceremony going on, the smoke coming from the church door was amazing, inside the floor was covered in pine needles, someone was swing a very large incense pot all over the place, groups were sat in front of all the pictures of the Saints, Mary, and our Lord each group was chanting, a couple of groups had a Shaman performing what ever they perform one young man was having an evil spirit purged from his body, all this going on in a Catholic Church !!

We climbed endlessly into the clouds and then descended in to the cool pine clad valle de Jovel. Where lies the beautiful colonial town of San Crisobal de las Casas, this is very true the town is beautiful as is the Church surrounded by a very colorful indigenous market. The city was catapulted into the lime light January 1st 1994 when the Zapatista rebels took control of the radio and government offices. The other outstanding feature is the fact that 20000+ indigenous people live in a shanty town surrounding the city, these people have been expelled by the leaders of the villages for changing their faith to Protestant - most of the hawkers and craft sellers in the city come from these people. I am not sure if they were expelled for not being Catholic or for not following the bizarre rituals and ceremonies of the Chamulans, I did ask but my question was not answered. I enjoyed my stay there it was very interesting. We finally got our insurance after a 5 day wait we were not very pleased, a nice place to be stuck.

Back on the road still heading north.

Honduras.

From our very nice visit at the waterfall we headed back the way we had come towards the town of Gracias, the area around Gracias is very beautiful and mountainous, much is forest. BUT we lost the tarmac, we were left with a road that is just gruesome it has all the things we hate - pot holes, corrugations, deep, deep ruts which are made by running water in the rainy season, the only thing we did not have was mud, BUT, of course we have DUST!!! I have just spent days getting the stuff out of my cab, now it’s full again!! For a while I kept hearing a tinkling sound, each time I put my head out of the window I couldn't hear it from the inside, I just could not tell if the noise was inside or outside. We stopped for afternoon tea, thankfully in the shade, (the sun is still very very hot) the tinkle was the back strap that holds my spare diesel tank in place! one side had broken its fixings and was banging on the road. “Houston I have a problem” the tank is 90% full and holds 230Lts aprox, weight aprox 250kilos. Some how we have to find some kind of strap to add to the other straps, thank goodness Ian is a 'belt and braces man'. The tank is suspended from the chassis by two stainless steel straps, added to this Ian has put two nylon web straps with some kind of a ratchet fastener making 4 straps total. I have two of these ratchet fixing straps spare in the truck, but do not know how to fix them or even undo the ratchet. But guess what between the three of us we worked it out and managed to get both of them helping to hold the tank in place. Continued slowly down this ** awful road, with L’n M behind me keeping an eye on the tank stopping for our night stop, checking our handy work nothing had moved. Next day we headed again down the awful road with L’n M checking my rear end until thank goodness we came to our beloved tarmac. Our worry was that because it is Easter this whole country is on holiday and everything is closed. We got to Gracias on Good Friday. We watched the Good Friday Processions and then managed to find a restaurant open and a good night stop, but no one to fix my tank, still fingers crossed nothing as yet has moved. We are told the road is tarmac to Santa Rosa de Copan the next biggish town. It is, we move more slowly than normal, not that we ever go very fast. Some of the car repair spots are open however, after stopping at a couple of no go’s Margaret spots a radiator repair; yes he will fix the strap. L’n M go off to find a laundry I eat my breakfast and do a couple of small chores and I am fixed, looks like a good job to me and cost 20$US, at which point L ‘n M return having found a laundry which will be ready at 1pm, we are all happy bunnies, they have also found a nice cool spot to park the trucks. Santa Rosa de Copan is a small very Spanish mountain town, with cobble streets and some lovely colonial buildings and large colonial church beside the central park. The church has a program of events for Easter on display Mass on Easter Sunday was at 4am.

Next morning before the 4am Mass the church had a procession around the town - this was very loud passing very close to our trucks !!!! We had decided to leave early trying to get to Copan Archaeological site before it was too hot, the road was good but it was still very hot by the time we got there, however the site still has a lot of trees left from when the jungle took over the site, so we were able to keep in the shade for most of the time. These Mayan Ruins have some remarkable stone carvings, we were told the best to be seen in all the ruins of either Guatemala or Mexico, we shall see!

The small part of the whole site which has been uncovered is very impressive I must say. The most impressive of all is the Hieroglyphic staircase. This flight of 63 steps tells a history in several thousand glyphs – of the royal house of Copan – the steps are boarded with ramps inscribed with more glyphs and reliefs the story is incomplete because only the first 15 steps were still in place, when it was found, the reconstructed stones were put back jumbled I guess - maybe one day some clever person will sort the jigsaw puzzle out. Hope so.

Next to this there is a ball court the second largest found in Central America. Here a game with an 8lb rubber ball was played by two teams of men! Was this the original football game? If your team lost you lost your head, however our guide told us the winning team captain lost his head as it was such an honor!!! Don’t really get that myself, which means if everyone is correct someone ended up dead!

I enjoyed the visit to the ruins, the guide was good, it was cool, I find it so amazing that people lived and loved here over 2000 years ago, it is believed that over 20,000 people lived here and moved away because of a very modern cause - the whole area was ecologically devastated. By the year 1200AD or thereabouts the jungle reclaimed what must have been a very beautiful city.

We enjoyed a lovely 3$US lunch in the cafeteria then visited the museum in the village Copan Ruinas this is a beautiful little village cobble stoned with white adobe buildings with red tiled roofs and beautiful central park full of palms and other jungle plants/flowers unfortunately parking was horrific as was the heat making a walk around the village a no go. Returning to the site of the ruins Les and I did a very small jungle walk spotting a number of birds but no jaguars. We also saw a Mahogany Tree I have never seen one before as trees go it was very ordinary, but I was very pleased to have seen it.

We had to leave the site for a night stop but returned the next morning to visit the museum on the site. The highlight here is the true scale reconstruction of the Rosalila Temple found in near perfect condition in 1989. Under the central building of the Acropolis. What happened here was that every 54 years the temples were knocked down and a new one built on the top of the old, but Rosalila was so sacred it was not knocked down but the next temple was built on the top leaving Rosalila in tact. The original is still untouched and still in situ. Amazing.

Now we return to Santa Rosa de Copan for a visit we hope to the cigar factory, also Les is having trouble with his brand new tyres, one of them keeps going flat!!!

The cigar factory, interesting, smelly, employing over 1,000 people every thing done by hand. However the girls did not roll the cigars on their dusky thighs! Instead they used a very large cigarette roller, Jocelyn used to have one! We were not allowed to take photo’s which was a shame ‘cause it was so interesting to show the photo’s would have been great. Every cigar is put into a small machine to make sure air can get through and it will infact “work”; three different tobaccos go into each cigar, the tobacco was very different in colour from very pale brown to very dark brown almost black. Enjoyable visit.

Les and Margaret then went off to do tyres, water, spring noise and look for batteries. I returned to the cool shady parking spot we had on our last visit. I then had a very lazy afternoon listening to an audio tape and drinking tea. Great.

L “n M had good success two wheels had holes in, which was why the tyre kept going flat. The noise needed grease. Whilst they were filling up with water found some batteries. So they are going back in the morning to collect two repaired tyres and two new batteries. We all hope. (Sad to say they were unable to get 2 new battries our search continues).

Me! I am sat in the cool of the truck listening to the carpenters and writing this. I was up at 5am to reorganize the boot in the cool, now that I know how to use those ratchet strap things! Although the sun is so very hot I am parked under trees and have a very nice cool breeze coming in the window. I have also done some washing and a little cleaning!

With luck L ‘n M will come back here and we will go for lunch together.

Well we managed the following night by parking at the side of the road (where the tour buses stop) to see the red glowing cap of the volcano, I guess that was the best we were going to see!!!!

The following day we went to Monteverde the plan was to take the sky walk, the road from Tilaran awful, just awful, but very beautiful. The community was founded in 1951 by a group of Quaker families from North America who came here to escape the draft in America for young men. The group came to Costa Rica because in 1948 when the US made the draft compulsory Costa Rica abolished their army. The road quickly gives way from ranches to dense cloud forest, the road is treacherous, full of rocks, pot holes, tight corners, narrow bridges, steep inclines and angles but the scenery is so beautiful and our stay here has been awesome.

Our first visit was to the sky walk, most of which is at the top of the canopy. We left at 7am - as soon as the walks were open, there were very few people and we hoped we would be able to see alot of wildlife. We had to climb a very high tower to get to the first bridge across the canopy (this is a suspension bridge across the top of the trees). Those of you who know that I do not do suspension bridges also know how brave I was to do this, but I can tell you it was worth the effort, there were 6 bridges joined by tracks through the jungle, it was a wonderful experience. There were no other people on the walk we were doing although we did see some people doing the zip line’s, this was not for me - that would be a zip to far cause I am too chicken!!! Can you imagine flying over the top of the jungle on a zip line?

Unlike a BBC travel programme the rain forest was NOT teeming with wild life at every step. However, the plants, flowers and the birds we did managed to see were absolutely wonderful. We had parked in their car park overnight at the side of the humming bird garden, this was beautiful. To watch these wonderful little birds darting from one feeder to the other and hovering with their wings going so fast, did you know they are the only bird that can fly backwards!

From here we went along a worse road to Santa Elena Reserve. Les and I went on another jungle walk taking a guide who spoke very good English and had a great passion for her country and her job - her knowledge of the birds, flowers, plants and trees was amazing. It makes the whole trip so enjoyable when a guide is like this because it rubs off and we all get so much out of the trip. She knew where to take us to see the birds and we were able to see a Bell Bird which we have been told today is very unusual. We were able to watch this bird fly from one perch to another so watched it for some time. We were very happy about this. Then it was back down the awful road to find a camp for the night. Les spotted a piece of flat ground next to a café, turned out not to be so flat so the proprietor of the café sent us round the back to a football pitch, we parked along the touch line, from next door were able to book a coffee tour along with a tour of the Quaker cheese factory for the next day.

What a wonderful and interesting day this has turned out to be. The road if anything was worse but we were not driving so were able to enjoy the drive, I of course sat in the front - Margaret will not allow the driver to sit me any where else. I was very pleased and just about hung onto my stomach ! The whole area is preserved, growing coffee, bananas, pineapple, papaya, orange, lemons and mango, also dairy farming. The Quakers have given so much back to this part of Cost Rica, which has given them such a peaceful life.

The Quakers purchased a large farm, some 50 hectares, which was then divided between 25 of the poorest families in the area, on 25 year leases. The farmer has the choice to renew, the conditions are:- they cannot sell the farms, they must live in the traditional way and teach these ways to their children, who can then take the farm over under the same conditions. It was one of these coffee farms belonging to a cooperative, part of the Fair Trade organization we were to visit, we were very lucky because we booked 'pot luck' on the only truly Eco coffee tour. I have in all of my travels never seen coffee growing so was really looking forward to this but was unprepared for what I learnt. This farm is worked solely by the farmer (with his family helping when it is picking time). We met a young American volunteer who was taking the pips from lemons that were to be planted to create shade for the coffee. The farmer is paid annually for the coffee crop when the beans are sold to the mill; he grows enough food to feed his family and sells any surplus. His wife works, the family live a very happy simple life making a reasonable living. His farm is totally organic unlike other coffee plantations we passed on the mountain side’s, just rows and rows of coffee plants. Here we have coffee plants growing under the protection of banana trees, orange and lemon trees, flowers and shrubs not only giving protection from the strong wind that is here but also from the animals who like to eat the fruit on the coffee trees (the beans are wrapped in a very sweet syrup) but instead of eating the coffee berries, they will eat fruit from the other trees. Also, apparently, banana trees put a huge amount of goodness into the soil, the husbandry of this guys farm was amazing. It was explained to us very carefully and thoroughly, very interesting and shows what can be done, making very little impact on the countryside - in fact improving things. No forest has been lost since this operation has been in practice and no chemicals are used and very little natural compost is needed. The people also have a lovely life. The small coffee mill which only processes the beans for the farmers of the cooperative was run along the same lines, everything given back to the land, everything done by hand, most of the mill was run by water. The pulp from the beans is made into natural compost on the site - using worms from North America as Costa Rican worms liked the jungle best! Up until only a few years ago all the pulp from all the beans in C.R was put into the rivers, this proved to be the biggest source of pollution, it is now illegal to do this. This compost is free to the farmers of the cooperative however because the farms run by the cooperative are run totally organic they use very little compost so most of it is sold giving the income back to the farmers in the dividend.

We then made a quick visit to a small organic paper making organization, again the Quakers had come up with the money to buy what was really a shed where women can work taking their children if they need to, when we visited there was an elderly man breaking up wet cardboard, a young man doing the heavy wet stuff and maybe a dozen ladies making cartons/bags that the coffee beans in the cooperative shop were sold in. they also made note books and birthday style cards and various other little things all very nice indeed. of course we all bought something. Our guide this morning had been so enthusiastic and interesting we were all shocked to learn he had only been in the area 3 months, we all thought he had belonged to the original Quakers. As I have already said it makes such a difference.

After a very nice lunch in the cooperative café we walked up to the cheese factory, which turned out to be another informative/interesting visit.

The young lady who was our guide this afternoon was a direct descendent from the original group of families who came to the area. She again had this enthusiasm that makes for a good tour.

Of course one of the first things the families had to decide was how to make a living, I am sure this took a while - they were after all in the jungle which they did not want to harm, no roads and a long way from other large settlements. So, what ever it was had to be hardy, because of tough transportation (eggs would have been no good), sellable ‘cause it was to be their living, they came up with cheese, having made this decision, none of the families were cheese makers so how to make cheese , they wrote to the American government and asked “how do we make cheese” got back a reply! “An easy guide to cheese making” which they used! at first only using their own milk, but as they grew and other farmers wanted to sell their milk for cheese, the Quakers set up what the young lady assured us was not a cooperative, however it became more and more like a cooperative as the afternoon went on, all the farmers own stock in the company no one is allowed to own more then 5% the farmers own the local gas station and are helped in every way possible. the farmers each only have small herds, the young lady said like 35 cows! Of course the farms have again good husbandry are organic with no forest loss.

The cheese was good as well!!!

The local people are trying to stop the awful roads from being tarmaced, because tourism is growing, they want the tourist’s but not the traffic which will spoil the balance, we did discuss park and ride with them, the chap that took us on the coffee tour is involved with the protests so was going to look York up on the internet.

I started this some days ago have since jumped 2 countries we are now in Honduras. I have had trouble since I have been back over here charging up my computer. There is a fault, I think, with my inverter. Les has been charging it up for me with his, but last week his inverter died! So I could not down load from the computer which had no battery, we have now both got a new inverter. I am very happy sat, in my truck charging away. We are in a Merc garage in Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras. We came for tyres for Les which he has been trying to find for ages (countries ha!) So I had a quick service and got the inverter and their sparky checked it out for me. Sooooo fingers X. we left this morning 03/04 with no new tyres, but had to come back ‘cause Les’s handbrake was not working he is having that and new tyres fixed as we speak I am so pleased for them, on these awful roads it is such a worry when you know the tyres are not 100%

05.04.2007

Still in Honduras heading for the border. Stopped at a beautiful waterfall today, had a nice walk along the side of the falls lots of birds, plants and flowers the temperature is good there is a nice breeze, we are staying here for the night. Central America is very different from South America. Lots more jungle, small, very poor housing, lots of fruit for sale at the side of the road. We are in the mountains the valleys are very hot. We are here at the very worst time of year, the hottest, to get as much as we can we will stay as much as possible on the high ground which is cooler

Also there has been no phone cover in Central America at all.

I am next going to try and send some photos !!!!!

it is still very hot, but we are now in the mountains so it is a little cooler

still at the dock in Costa rica

Well after our awful day yesterday, we returned to the port to try again and recover the trucks. It took another 1.5hrs to finish the paperwork from yesterday, a further hour to have everything photocopied and get the place a little hotter !!! then we were taken by car because I am still in my flip flops!!! To get the trucks. we then, of course, had to be fumigated with a very silly little spray - just enough to dirty the windows, but I could not see that any more use was done. After this we were then quickly out of the dock. By which time it is roasting. What made all this worth while was the fact that the trucks were in perfect condition, we paid no bribes were not even asked, yes it had taken a long time but in my opinion worth every minute.

Then back to the hotel, put all the stuff back in the cab - radio, CB, etc. Took the bars from the windows; had a shower and lunch in the hotel and then back on the road again.

We are heading for the Laguna del Arenal and the Volcano Arenal we hope again to be able to see a volcano spitting fire and brimstone.

We turn east from the Pan-American highway towards the town of Tilaran, this is a small town a ranching center but we are to early for the rodeo I am very sorry to say, (it is very hot). We continue making our way up the Tilaran Mountains and we have a lovely cool breeze. once we reach the lake the temperature is a lot more pleasant, the lake is very pretty with the volcano at its end; now everything is much more jungle - the flowers are very beautiful and different; also there are a lot more birds - most of them are very colourful. We continued around the lake until we came to the small village where the German Bakery is, here I had apple strudel and ice cream lovely!! Les asked where we could park for the night and we were sent down a couple of short dirt roads to the lakeside, when it was dark we should have been able to see the volcano spitting red fire. But with low cloud we could see nothing!!! (Just our luck) this night we had torrential rain, my roof windows were open - I knew it was raining when I got wet!!

Following day we continued around the lake; the ride is very beautiful and interesting. We are going to the Arenal Observatory, this is a hotel with some wonderful jungle trails and with a great view of the volcano, we had a lovely walk through the jungle to a most beautiful water fall, the flowers and birds are magnificent, there is a feeding table on this we saw a red, blue, green birds and a brown black with yellow in its tail, orange beak and blue around its eye - all these colours are very bright and it was all at the same time.. awesome. we had a wonderful afternoon. In the evening we went to watch the fire spitting from the volcano but with low cloud, rain we could not see anything. !!!
We had rain again this night *my windows were shut*
tried agian for a view of the red fire but no luck!!! we will just have to wait and see if the weather changes ......................

I am well and happy, happy our trucks are in Costa Rica very safe and sound, no damage, no robbers!!! They are however still in the compound, we are back at the hotel after a very hot and sticky day at the dock trying to get them out!

We arrived at the port this morning; soon after 10 the boat was docked so, we asked the customs 'could we start the paperwork?', the answer was no we couldn't until the paperwork on the boat had been done. also we needed road tax and insurance documents; we explained that yes we knew this, and also that yes we knew we would have to pay for it. However what we did not know was that we had to go to the next town (30 mins away) to buy said document!!!! we asked a taxi driver belonging to an American couple if he would use his radio to get another taxi for us, which he did, turned out to be the same guy who had taken us from the hotel to the dock. He proved to be a great help, even rang his own insurance to see if they could help us, they could not, but he took us to the place that the custom's lady had told us to go to, waited for us and made sure we were in the correct place so this was quite quick. back at the port we were not so lucky, customs lady still could not help us, we had to go find the agents who were dealing with the boat, this proved not too difficult, but he spoke very fast; L + M found him very hard to understand, but did understand that it would be 2 hours before the trucks would be off the boat. It is by now just after 1pm we are very hot very sticky and beginning to get fed up, we found the coolest place to sit and had a snack and drink. Around 2pm Les went for a walk and found that the trucks were off the boat, we then had to go to the agents office which was an air-conditioned container, lovely, which we enjoyed whilst they photo copied all the necessary documents, then back to the customs lady and with the help of one of the agents she checked all the photo copied documents matched the originals, she then filled in a hand written document but was unable to find most of the information from the documents she had. we are getting hotter and stickier by the minute, Les took his shirt off. Then, the best part of the day. One of the agents who spoke english and was by this time helping the customs lady who could not understand we were English, lived in England yet on our passport says "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" good job Les and M have spanish. Anyway then the guy asked Les had anyone said anything about his T-shirt? Les laughed (as he does) the guy then said they would not let him go collect his truck in shorts and sandals!!!!! I truly believed the guy was joking. He was not!!! I had flip flops on but I did have long trousers. So when they had finally done the paper work customs lady got her high visibility vest on, she the agent and myself went to go to the trucks; I had to put a high visibility vest on and a hard hat, which would not fit on top of my sunhat (how silly did I look), but I was not allowed to go through the gate to the port for ages (standing in the hot sun) cause of the flip flops!!!! I have no shoes in Costa Rica says I, the agent chap said he would drive me in his car, this was ok and saved a long walk in the hot sun. I was very relieved and happy to see both trucks 100%, then back to the customs office for more paperwork but I cannot drive the truck off without shoes!!!! AND THEN their computer crashed, its closing time and we have to go back tomorrow!!!!

We do each have, at great expense, a "Carnet de Passages en Douane" this is an international document for the temporary importation of vehicles to which Costa Rica subscribes, this document takes less then 5mins to stamp and sign has all the information with regard to the vehicle that all the countries have agreed they need. However Costa Rica has promised to use modern equipment to speed things along !!!!!!

So I am back in my hotel bedroom, just had a lovely cool shower, washed my sticky clothes, written this and now I am going to watch "Forsyte Saga"